UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT  LOS  ANGELES 

BROWSING  ROOM 


i^#>^ 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT  LOS  ANGELES 

BROWSING  ROOM 


GIFT  OF 

Dr.   Kate   Gordon 


^p  |)enrp  ^,  Eliaxtm, 


RIVERSIDE  EDITION. 

I.    A  WEEK   ON   THE   CONCORD   AND    MERRI- 
MACK   RIVERS. 
II.    WALDEN;    OR,    LIFE    IN    THE    WOODS. 

III.  THE    MAINE    WOODS. 

IV.  CAPE    COD. 

V.    EARLY    SPRING    IN    MASSACHUSETTS. 
VI.    SUMMER.     With  a  Map  of  Concord. 
VII.    AUTUMN. 
VIII.   WINTER. 
IX.    EXCURSIONS. 
X.    MISCELLANIES.     With  a  Biographical  Sketch 
by  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson. 
XI.    FAMILIAR    LETTERS.     Edited,  with  an   Intro- 
duction and  Notes,  by  Frank  B.   Sanborn. 
II  volumes,  crown  8vo,  each,  with  an  Index,  $1.50;  the 
set,  cloth,  in  box,  516.50;  half  calf,  $33.00;  half  calf, 
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CAPE  COD.  Holiday  Edition.  Illustrated  in  water- 
colors  by  Miss  A.melia  B.  Watson.  2  vols,  crown 
8vo,  S5.00. 

WALDEN;  OR,  LIFE  IN  THE  WOODS.  Holiday 
Edition.  With  an  Introduction  by  Bradford 
ToRREV,  and  28  full-page  photogravure  illustrations. 
I  vol.  i2mo. 

The  Same.  Cambridge  Classics.  With  a  Biographical 
Sketch  by  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  i  vol.  crown 
8vo,  $1.00. 

The  Same.  Riverside  Aldine  Series.  2  vols.  i6mo, 
52.00. 

POEMS  OF  NATURE.  Selected  and  edited  by  Henry 
S.  Salt  and  Frank  B.  Sanborn.     i6mo,  5i.5o. 

THOREAU'S  THOUGHTS.  Selections  from  the  Writ- 
ings of  Henry  D.  Thoreau.  Edited  by  H.  G.  O.  Blake. 
With  Bibliography.      i6mo,  gilt  top,  5ioo. 

THE  SUCCESSION  OF  FOREST  TREES  AND  WILD 
APPLES.  With  Biographical  Sketch  by  Emerson. 
i6ino,  paper,  15  cents,  ?iet. 

HOUGHTON,   MIFFLIN   &   CO. 
Boston  and  New  York. 


iflitjcr^ibc  oBtiition 


THE  WRITINGS   OF 
HENRY    DAVID    THOREAU 

WITH  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  INTRODUCTIONS 
AND  FULL  INDEXES 

VOLUME  IV 


CAPE  COD 


BY 


HENRY  DAVID  THOREAU 


Principiunt  crit  mirari  omnia,  etiam  tritissima, 
Medium  est  calamo  committere  visa  et  utilia, 
Finis  erit  naturain  adcuratius  adlineare,  quam  alius  [si  possumus]. 
Linnaus  de  Peregrinatiotte. 


BOSTON  AND    NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND   COMPANY 


Copyright,  1864, 
By  TICKJSfOR  AND  FIELDS. 

Copyright,  1893, 
Br  HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  &   CO. 

All  rights  reserved. 


The  Riverside  Press,  Cambridge,  3fass.,  U.  S.  A. 
Hectrotyped  and  Printed  by  H.  O.  Houghton  &  Company. 


8 

o 
2: 


CONTENTS 

PAOB 

Introductory  Note 

vii 

I.  The  Shipwreck 

.       1 

II.  Stage-Coach  Views 

20 

ni.  The  Plains  of  Nauset 

.    34 

IV.  The  Beach 

65 

V.  The  WELJ.FLEET  Oysterman 

.     92 

VI.  The  Beach  Again    .... 

.       120 

\^I.   Across  the  Cape         .... 

.  153 

VIII.   The  Highland  Light 

.       179 

IX.  The  Sea  and  the  Desert 

.  211 

X.  Provincetown  ..... 

.      255 

189921 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

In  the  same  year  as  The  Maine  Woods,  but 
as  a  Christmas  book  dated  1865,  appeared  Cape 
Cod,  also  edited  by  W.  E.  Channing  and  pub- 
lished by  Ticknor  &  Fields.  The  first  four 
chapters  of  the  book  had  already  been  printed 
by  their  author  in  Putnam  s  Magazine  in  1855, 
and  chapters  v.  and  viii.  were  printed,  just  in  ad- 
vance of  publication  in  the  book,  in  The  Atlantic 
MontMy  in  October  and  December,  1864. 

Thoreau  has  recorded  his  adventures  in  this 
book,  and  shows  that  he  enjoyed  the  humor 
which  attended  his  intercourse  with  the  inde- 
pendent, self-reliant  folic  of  what  was  then  more 
than  now  a  singularly  isolated  arm  of  the  State. 
Mr.  Channing  adds  in  his  book  on  Thoreau: 
"  One  of  the  old  Cod  could  not  believe  that  Tho- 
reau was  not  a  pedler ;  but  said,  after  explana- 
tion failed,  'Well,  it  makes  no  odds  what  it  is 
you  carry,  so  long  as  you  carry  truth  along  with 

you.'" 


CAPE   COD 


THE   SHIPWRECK 


Wishing  to  get  a  better  view  than  I  had  yet 
had  of  the  ocean,  which,  we  are  tokl,  covers 
more  than  two  thirds  of  the  globe,  but  of  which 
a  man  who  lives  a  few  miles  inland  may  never 
see  any  trace,  more  than  of  another  world,  I 
made  a  visit  to  Cape  Cod  in  October,  1849,  an- 
other the  succeeding  June,  and  another  to  Truro 
in  July,  1855;  the  first  and  last  time  with  a 
single  companion,  the  second  time  alone.  I 
have  spent,  in  all,  about  three  weeks  on  the 
Cape;  walked  from  Eastham  to  Provincetown 
twice  on  the  Atlantic  side,  and  once  on  the  Bay 
side  also,  excepting  four  or  five  miles,  and 
crossed  the  Cape  half  a  dozen  times  on  my  way ; 
but  having  come  so  fresh  to  the  sea,  I  have  got 
but  little  salted.  My  readers  must  expect  only 
so  much  saltness  as  the  land  breeze  acquires 
from  blowing  over  an  arm  of  the  sea,  or  is  tasted 
on  the  windows  and  the  bark  of  trees  twenty 
miles  inland,  after  September  gales.     I  have 


52  CAPE   COD 

been  accustomed  to  make  excursions  to  the  ponds 
within  ten  miles  of  Concord,  but  hitterly  I  have 
extended  my  excursions  to  the  seashore. 

I  did  not  see  why  I  might  not  make  a  book  on 
Cape  Cod,  as  well  as  my  neighbor  on  "Human 
Culture."  It  is  but  another  name  for  the  same 
thing,  and  hardly  a  sandier  phase  of  it.  As  for 
my  title,  I  suppose  that  the  word  Cape  is  from 
the  French  cctp  ;  which  is  from  the  Latin  ca^put^ 
a  head ;  which  is,  perhaps,  from  the  verb  capere, 
to  take,  —  that  being  the  part  by  which  we  take 
hold  of  a  thing :  —  Take  Time  by  the  forelock. 
It  is  also  the  safest  part  to  take  a  serpent  by. 
And  as  for  Cod,  that  was  derived  directly  from 
that  "great  store  of  cod-fish"  which  Captain 
Bartholomew  Gosnold  caught  there  in  1602; 
which  fish  appears  to  have  been  so  called  from 
the  Saxon  word  codde,  "a  case  in  which  seeds 
are  lodged,"  either  from  the  form  of  the  fish,  or 
the  quantity  of  sjjawn  it  contains;  whence  also, 
perhaps,  codling  {'"'' pomiim  coctile^^?}  and 
coddle,  —  to  cook  green  like  peas.     (  V.  Die.) 

Cape  Cod  is  the  bared  and  bended  arm  of 
Massachusetts:  the  shoulder  is  at  Buzzard's 
Bay;  the  elbow,  or  crazy -bone,  at  Cape  Malle- 
barre ;  the  wrist  at  Truro ;  and  the  sandy  fist  at 
Provincetown,  —  behind  which  the  State  stands 
on  her  giiard,  with  her  back  to  the  Green  Moun- 
tains, and  her  feet  planted  on  the  floor  of  the 


THE  SHIPWRECK  3 

ocean,  like  an  athlete  protecting  her  Bay,  — 
boxing  with  northeast  storms,  and,  ever  and 
anon,  heaving  np  her  Atlantic  adversary  from 
the  lap  of  earth,  —  ready  to  thrust  forward  her 
other  fist,  which  keeps  guard  the  while  upon  lier 
breast  at  Cape  Ann. 

On  studying  the  map,  I  saw  that  there  must 
be  an  uninterrupted  beach  on  the  east  or  outside 
of  the  forearm  of  the  Cape,  more  than  thirty 
miles  from  the  general  line  of  the  coast,  which 
would  afford  a  good  sea  view,  but  that,  on  ac- 
count of  an  opening  in  the  beach,  forming  the 
entrance  to  Nauset  Harbor,  in  Orleans,  I  must 
strike  it  in  Eastham,  if  I  approached  it  by  land, 
and  probably  I  could  walk  thence  straight  to 
Race  Point,  about  twenty-eight  miles,  and  not 
meet  with  any  obstruction. 

We  left  Concord,  Massachusetts,  on  Tuesday, 
October  9,  1849.  On  reaching  Boston,  we  found 
that  the  Provincetown  steamer,  which  should 
have  got  in  the  day  before,  had  not  yet  arrived, 
on  account  of  a  violent  storm;  and,  as  we  no- 
ticed in  the  streets  a  handbill  headed,  "Death! 
one  hundred  and  forty-five  lives  lost  at  Cohas- 
set,"  we  decided  to  go  by  way  of  Cohasset. 
We  found  many  Irish  in  the  cars,  going  to  iden- 
tify bodies  and  to  sympathize  with  the  survivors, 
and  also  to  attend  the  funeral  which  was  to  take 
place  in  the  afternoon ;  —  and  when  we  arrived 


4  CAPE   COD 

at  Coliasset,  it  appeared  that  nearly  all  the  pas- 
sengers were  bound  for  the  beach,  which  was 
about  a  mile  distant,  and  many  other  persons 
were  flocking  in  from  the  neighboring  country. 
There  were  several  hvindreds  of  them  streaming 
off  over  Cohasset  common  in  that  direction, 
some  on  foot  and  some  in  wagons,  —  and  among 
them  were  some  sportsmen  in  their  hunting- 
jackets,  with  their  guns,  and  game-bags,  and 
dogs.  As  we  passed  the  graveyard  we  saw  a 
large  hole,  like  a  cellar,  freshly  dug  there,  and, 
just  before  reaching  the  shore,  by  a  pleasantly 
winding  and  rocky  road,  we  met  several  hay-rig- 
gings and  farm-wagons  coming  away  toward  the 
meeting  -  house,  each  loaded  with  three  large, 
rough  deal  boxes.  We  did  not  need  to  ask  what 
was  in  them.  The  owners  of  the  wagons  were 
made  the  undertakers.  Many  horses  in  carriages 
were  fastened  to  the  fences  near  the  shore,  and, 
for  a  mile  or  more,  up  and  down,  the  beach  was 
covered  with  people  looking  out  for  bodies,  and 
examining  the  fragments  of  the  wreck.  There 
was  a  small  island  called  Brook  Island,  with  a 
hut  on  it,  lying  just  off  the  shore.  This  is  said 
to  be  the  rockiest  shore  in  Massachusetts,  from 
Kantasket  to  Scituate,  —  hard  sienitic  rocks, 
which  the  waves  have  laid  bare,  but  have  not 
been  able  to  crumble.  It  has  been  the  scene  of 
many  a  shipwreck. 


THE  SHIPWRECK  6 

The  brig  St.  John,  from  Gal  way,  Ireland, 
laden  with  emigrants,  was  wrecked  on  Sunday- 
morning  ;  it  was  now  Tuesday  morning,  and  the 
sea  was  still  breaking  violently  on  the  rocks. 
There  were  eighteen  or  twenty  of  the  same  large 
boxes ,  that  I  have  mentioned,  lying  on  a  green 
hillside,  a  few  rods  from  the  water,  and  sur- 
rounded by  a  crowd.  The  bodies  which  had 
been  recovered,  twenty-seven  or  eight  in  all,  had 
been  collected  there.  Some  were  rapidly  nail- 
ing down  the  lids,  others  were  carting  the  boxes 
away,  and  others  were  lifting  the  lids,  which 
were  yet  loose,  and  peeping  under  the  cloths, 
for  each  body,  with  such  rags  as  still  adhered  to 
it,  was  covered  loosely  with  a  white  sheet.  I 
witnessed  no  signs  of  grief,  but  there  was  a  sober 
dispatch  of  business  which  was  affecting.  One 
man  was  seeking  to  identify  a  particular  body, 
and  one  undertaker  or  carpenter  was  calling  to 
another  to  know  in  what  box  a  certain  child  was 
2)ut.  I  saw  many  marble  feet  and  matted  heads 
as  the  cloths  were  raised,  and  one  livid,  swollen, 
and  mangled  body  of  a  drowned  girl,  —  who  pro- 
bably had  intended  to  go  out  to  service  in  some 
American  family,  —  to  which  some  rags  still  ad- 
hered, with  a  string,  haK  concealed  by  the  flesh, 
about  its  swollen  neck;  the  coiled -up  wreck  of 
a  human  hidk,  gashed  by  the  rocks  or  fishes,  so 
that  the  bone  and  muscle  were  exposed,  but  quite 


6  CAPE   COD 

bloodless,  —  merely  red  and  white,  —  with  wide- 
open  and  stai'ing  eyes,  yet  lustreless,  dead- 
lijihts :  or  like  the  cabin  windows  of  a  stranded 
vessel,  filled  with  sand.  Sometimes  there  were 
two  or  more  children,  or  a  parent  and  child,  in 
the  same  box,  and  on  the  lid  would  perhaps  be 
written  with  red  chalk,  "Bridget  such-a-one, 
and  sister's  child."  The  surrounding  sward  was 
covered  with  bits  of  sails  and  clothing.  I  have 
since  heard,  from  one  who  lives  by  this  beach, 
that  a  woman  who  had  come  over  before,  but 
had  left  her  infant  behind  for  her  sister  to 
bring,  came  and  looked  into  these  boxes,  and 
saw  in  one  —  probably  the  same  whose  super- 
scription I  have  quoted  —  her  child  in  her  sis- 
ter's arms,  as  if  the  sister  had  meant  to  be 
found  thus;  and  within  three  days  after,  the 
mother  died  from  the  effect  of  that  sight. 

We  turned  from  this  and  walked  along  the 
rocky  shore.  In  the  first  cove  were  strewn 
what  seemed  the  fragments  of  a  vessel,  in  small 
pieces  mixed  with  sand  and  seaweed,  and  great 
quantities  of  feathers;  but  it  looked  so  old  and 
rusty,  that  I  at  first  took  it  to  be  some  old 
wreck  which  had  lain  there  many  years.  I 
even  thought  of  Captain  Kidd,  and  that  the 
feathers  were  those  which  sea-fowl  had  cast 
there ;  and  perhaps  there  might  be  some  tradi- 
tion about  it  in  the  neighborhood.     I  asked  a 


THE  SHIPWRECK  7 

sailor  if  that  was  the  St.  John.  He  said  it 
was.  I  asked  him  where  she  struck.  He 
pointed  to  a  rock  in  front  of  us,  a  mile  from  the 
shore,  called  the  Grampus  Rock,  and  added,  — 

"  You  can  see  a  part  of  her  now  sticking  up ; 
it  looks  like  a  small  boat." 

I  saw  it.  It  was  thought  to  be  held  by  the 
chain-cables  and  the  anchors.  I  asked  if  the 
bodies  which  I  saw  were  all  that  were  drowned. 

"Not  a  quarter  of  them,"  said  he. 

"Where  are  the  rest?" 

"Most  of  them  right  underneath  that  piece 
you  see." 

It  appeared  to  us  that  there  was  enough  rub- 
bish to  make  the  wreck  of  a  large  vessel  in  this 
cove  alone,  and  that  it  would  take  many  days  to 
cart  it  off.  It  was  several  feet  deep,  and  here 
and  there  was  a  bonnet  or  a  jacket  on  it.  In 
the  very  midst  of  the  crowd  about  this  wreck, 
there  were  men  with  carts  busily  collecting  the 
seaweed  which  the  storm  had  cast  up,  and  con- 
veying it  beyond  the  reach  of  the  tide,  though 
they  were  often  obliged  to  separate  fragments 
of  clothing  from  it,  and  they  might  at  any 
moment  have  found  a  human  body  under  it. 
Drown  who  might,  they  did  not  forget  that  this 
weed  was  a  valuable  manure.  This  shipwreck 
had  not  produced  a  visible  vibration  in  the 
fabric  of  society. 


8  CAPE   COD 

About  a  mile  south  we  could  see,  rising  above 
the  rocks,  the  masts  of  the  British  brijr  which 
the  St.  John  had  endeavored  to  follow,  which 
had  slipped  her  cables,  and,  by  good  luck,  run 
into  the  mouth  of  Cohasset  Harbor.  A  little 
further  along  the  shore  we  saw  a  man's  clothes 
on  a  rock;  further,  a  woman's  scarf,  a  gown,  a 
straw  bonnet,  the  brig's  caboose,  and  one  of  her 
masts  high  and  dry,  broken  into  several  pieces. 
In  another  rocky  cove,  several  rods  from  the 
water,  and  behind  rocks  twenty  feet  high,  lay  a 
part  of  one  side  of  the  vessel,  still  hanging  to- 
gether. It  was,  perhaps,  forty  feet  long,  by 
fourteen  wide.  I  was  even  more  surprised  at 
the  power  of  the  waves,  exhibited  on  this  shat- 
tered fragment,  than  I  had  been  at  the  sight  of 
the  smaller  fragments  before.  The  largest  tim- 
bers and  iron  braces  were  broken  superfluously, 
and  I  saw  that  no  material  could  withstand  the 
power  of  the  waves ;  that  iron  must  go  to  pieces 
in  such  a  case,  and  an  iron  vessel  would  be 
cracked  up  like  an  egg-shell  on  the  rocks.  Some 
of  these  timbers,  however,  were  so  rotten  that  I 
could  almost  thrust  my  umbrella  through  them. 
They  told  us  that  some  were  saved  on  this  piece, 
and  also  showed  where  the  sea  had  heaved  it 
into  this  cove  which  was  now  dry.  When  I  saw 
where  it  had  come  in,  and  in  what  condition,  I 
wondered  that  any  had  been  saved  on  it.     A  lit- 


THE  SHIPWRECK  9 

tie  further  on  a  crowd  of  men  was  collected 
around  the  mate  of  the  St.  John,  who  was  tell- 
ing his  story.  He  was  a  slim-looking  youth, 
who  spoke  of  the  captain  as  the  master,  and 
seemed"  a  little  excited.  He  was  saying  that 
when  they  jumped  into  the  boat,  she  filled,  and, 
the  vessel  lurching,  the  weight  of  the  water  in 
the  boat  caused  the  painter  to  break,  and  so 
they  were  separated.  Whereat  one  man  came 
away,  saying,  — 

"Well,  I  don't  see  but  he  tells  a  straight 
story  enough.  You  see,  the  weight  of  the  water 
in  the  boat  broke  the  painter.  A  boat  full  of 
water  is  very  heavy,"  —  and  so  on,  in  a  loud 
and  impertinently  earnest  tone,  as  if  he  had  a 
bet  depending  on  it,  but  had  no  humane  inter- 
est in  the  matter. 

Another,  a  large  man,  stood  near  by  upon  a 
rock,  gazing  into  the  sea,  and  chewing  large 
quids  of  tobacco,  as  if  that  habit  were  forever 
confirmed  with  him. 

"Come,"  says  another  to  his  companion, 
"let's  be  off.  We've  seen  the  whole  of  it. 
It 's  no  vise  to  stay  to  the  funeral." 

Further,  we  saw  one  standing  upon  a  rock, 
who,  we  were  told,  was  one  that  was  saved. 
He  was  a  sober-looking  man,  dressed  in  a 
jacket  and  gray  pantaloons,  with  his  hands  in 
the  pockets.     I   asked    him   a   few   questions, 


10  CAPE   COD 

which  he  answered ;  but  he  seemed  unwilling  to 
talk  about  it,  and  soon  walked  away.  By  his 
side  stood  one  of  the  life-boat  men,  in  an  oil- 
cloth jacket,  who  told  us  how  they  went  to 
the  relief  of  the  British  brig,  thinking  that  the 
boat  of  the  St.  John,  which  they  passed  on  the 
way,  held  all  her  crew,  —  for  the  waves  pre- 
vented their  seeing  those  who  were  on  the  vessel, 
though  they  might  have  saved  some  had  they 
known  there  were  any  there.  A  little  further 
was  the  flag  of  the  St.  John  spread  on  a  rock  to 
dry,  and  held  down  by  stones  at  the  corners. 
This  frail,  but  essential  and  significant  portion 
of  the  vessel,  which  had  so  long  been  the  sport 
of  the  winds,  was  sure  to  reach  the  shore. 
There  were  one  or  two  houses  visible  from  these 
rocks,  in  which  were  some  of  the  survivors  re- 
covering from  the  shock  which  their  bodies  and 
minds  had  sustained.  One  was  not  expected  to 
live. 

We  kept  on  down  the  shore  as  far  as  a  pro- 
montory called  Whitehead,  that  we  might  see 
more  of  the  Cohasset  Rocks.  In  a  little  cove, 
within  half  a  mile,  there  were  an  old  man  and 
his  son  collecting,  with  their  team,  the  seaweed 
which  that  fatal  storm  had  cast  up,  as  serenely 
employed  as  if  there  had  never  been  a  wreck  in 
the  world,  though  they  were  within  sight  of  the 
Grampus  Rock,   on   which   the    St.   John    had 


THE  SHIPWRECK  11 

struck.  The  old  man  had  heard  that  there  was 
a  wreck  and  knew  most  of  the  particulars,  but 
he  said  that  he  had  not  been  up  there  since  it 
happened.  It  was  the  wrecked  weed  that  con- 
cerned him  most,  rock-weed,  kelp,  and  sea- 
weed, as  he  named  them,  which  he  carted  to  his 
barnyard;  and  those  bodies  were  to  him  but 
other  weeds  which  the  tide  cast  up,  but  which 
were  of  no  use  to  him.  We  afterwards  came  to 
the  life-boat  in  its  harbor,  waiting  for  another 
emergency,  —  and  in  the  afternoon  we  saw  the 
funeral  procession  at  a.  distance,  at  the  head  of 
which  walked  the  captain  with  the  other  sur- 
vivors. 

On  the  whole,  it  was  not  so  impressive  a 
scene  as  I  might  have  expected.  If  I  had  found 
one  body  cast  upon  the  beach  in  some  lonely 
place,  it  would  have  affected  me  more.  I  sym- 
pathized rather  with  the  winds  and  waves,  as  if 
to  toss  and  mangle  these  poor  human  bodies 
was  the  order  of  the  day.  If  this  was  the  law 
of  Nature,  why  waste  any  time  in  awe  or  pity  ? 
If  the  last  day  were  come,  we  should  not  think 
so  much  about  the  separation  of  friends  or  the 
61ighted  prospects  of  individuals.  I  saw  that 
corpses  might  be  multiplied,  as  on  the  field  of 
battle,  till  they  no  longer  affected  us  in  any  de- 
gree, as  exceptions  to  the  common  lot  of  human- 
ity.    Take  all  the  graveyards  together,  they  are 


12  CAPE   COD 

always  the  majority.  It  is  the  individual  and 
private  that  demands  our  sympathy.  A  man 
can  attend  but  one  funeral  in  the  course  of  his 
life,  can  behold  but  one  corpse.  Yet  I  saw 
that  the  inhabitants  of  the  shore  would  be  not  a 
little  affected  by  this  event.  They  would  watch 
there  many  days  and  nights  for  the  sea  to  give 
up  its  dead,  and  their  imaginations  and  sympa- 
thies would  supply  the  place  of  mourners  far 
away,  who  as  yet  knew  not  of  the  wreck.  Many 
days  after  this,  something  white  was  seen  float- 
ing on  the  water  by  one  who  was  sauntering  on 
the  beach.  It  was  approached  in  a  boat,  and 
found  to  be  the  body  of  a  woman,  which  liad 
risen  in  an  upright  position,  whose  white  cap 
was  blown  back  with  the  wind.  I  saw  that  the 
beauty  of  the  shore  itself  was  wrecked  for  many 
a  lonely  walker  there,  until  he  could  perceive, 
at  last,  how  its  beauty  was  enhanced  by  wrecks 
like  this,  and  it  acquired  thus  a  rarer  and 
subliraer  beauty  still. 

Why  care  for  these  dead  bodies?  They 
really  have  no  friends  but  the  worms  or  fishes. 
Their  owners  were  coming  to  the  New  World, 
as  Columbus  and  the  Pilgrims  did,  —  they  were 
within  a  mile  of  its  shores;  but,  before  they 
could  reach  it,  they  emigrated  to  a  newer  world 
than  ever  Columbus  dreamed  of,  yet  one  of 
whose  existence  we  believe  that  there  is  far  more 


THE  SHIPWRECK  13 

universal  and  convincing  evidence  —  though  it 
has  not  yet  been  discovered  by  science  —  than 
Columbus  had  of  this :  not  merely  mariners' 
tales  and  some  paltry  drift-wood  and  seaweed, 
but  a  continual  drift  and  instinct  to  all  our 
shores.  I  saw  their  empty  hulks  that  came  to 
land ;  but  they  themselves,  meanwhile,  were  cast 
upon  some  shore  yet  further  west,  toward  which 
we  are  all  tending,  and  which  we  shall  reach  at 
last,  it  may  be  through  storm  and  darkness,  as 
they  did.  No  doubt,  we  have  reason  to  thank 
God  that  they  have  not  been  "  shipwrecked  into 
life  again."  The  mariner  who  makes  the  safest 
port  in  Heaven,  perchance,  seems  to  his  friends 
on  earth  to  be  shipwrecked,  for  they  deem  Bos- 
ton Harbor  the  better  place  ;  though  perhaps  in- 
visible to  them,  a  skillful  pilot  comes  to  meet 
him,  and  the  fairest  and  balmiest  gales  blow  off 
that  coast,  his  good  ship  makes  the  land  in  hal- 
cyon days,  and  he  kisses  the  shore  in  rapture 
there,  while  his  old  hulk  tosses  in  the  surf  here. 
It  is  hard  to  part  with  one's  body,  but,  no  doubt, 
it  is  easy  enough  to  do  without  it  when  once  it  is 
gone.  All  their  plans  and  hopes  burst  like  a 
bubble !  Infants  by  the  score  dashed  on  the 
rocks  by  the  enraged  Atlantic  Ocean  !  No, 
no !  If  the'  St.  John  did  not  make  her  port  here, 
she  has  been  telegraphed  there.  The  strongest 
wind  cannot  stagger  a  Spirit ;  it  is  a  Spirit's 


1-4  CAPE   COD 

breath.  A  just  man's  purpose  cannot  be  split 
on  any  Grampus  or  material  rock,  but  itself 
will  split  rocks  till  it  succeeds. 

The  verses  addressed  to  Colimabus,  dying, 
may,  with  slight  alterations,  be  applied  to  the 
passengers  of  the  St.  John, — 

"  Soon  with  them  will  all  be  over, 
Soon  the  voyage  will  be  begun 
That  shall  bear  them  to  discover, 
Far  away,  a  land  unknown. 

*'  Land  that  each,  alone,  must  visit, 
But  no  tidings  bring  to  men ; 
For  no  sailor,  once  departed, 
Ever  hath  returned  again. 

"  No  carved  wood,  no  broken  branches 
Ever  drift  from  that  far  wild  ; 
He  who  on  that  ocean  launches 
Meets  no  corse  of  angel  child. 

"  Undismayed,  my  noble  sailors. 
Spread,  then  spread  your  canvas  out ; 
Spirits !  on  a  sea  of  ether 
Soon  shall  ye  serenely  float ! 

"  Where  the  deep  no  plummet  soundeth, 
Fear  no  hidden  breakers  there, 
And  the  fanning  wing  of  angels 
Shall  your  bark  right  onward  bear. 

"  Quit,  now,  full  of  heart  and  comfort, 
These  rude  shores,  they  are  of  earth ; 
Where  the  rosy  clouds  are  parting, 
There  the  blessed  isles  loom  forth." 


THE  SHIPWRECK  15 

One  summer  clay,  since  this,  I  came  this  way, 
on  foot,  along  the  shore  from  Boston.  It  was 
so  warm,  that  some  horses  had  climbed  to  the 
very  top  of  the  ramparts  of  the  old  fort  at  Hull, 
where  there  was  hardly  room  to  turn  round,  for 
the  sake  of  the  breeze.  The  Datura  stramo- 
nium, or  thorn-apple,  was  in  full  bloom  along 
the  beach ;  and,  at  sight  of  this  cosmopolite,  — 
this  Captain  Cook  among  plants,  —  carried  in 
ballast  all  over  the  world,  I  felt  as  if  I  were  on 
the  highway  of  nations.  Say,  rather,  this 
Viking,  king  of  the  Bays,  for  it  is  not  an  inno- 
cent plant;  it  suggests  not  merely  commerce, 
but  its  attendant  vices,  as  if  its  fibres  were  the 
stuff  of  which  pirates  spin  their  yarns.  I  heard 
the  voices  of  men  shouting  aboard  a  vessel,  half 
a  mile  from  the  shore,  which  sounded  as  if  they 
were  in  a  barn  in  the  country,  they  being  be- 
tween the  sails.  It  was  a  purely  rural  sound. 
As  I  looked  over  the  water,  I  saw  the  isles 
rapidly  wasting  away,  the  sea  nibbling  vora- 
ciously at  the  continent,  the  springing  arch  of  a 
hill  suddenly  interrupted,  as  at  Point  Allerton, 
—  what  botanists  might  call  premorse,  —  show- 
ing, by  its  curve  against  the  sky,  how  much 
space  it  must  have  occupied,  where  now  was 
water  only.  On  the  other  hand,  these  wrecks 
of  isles  were  being  fancifully  arranged  into  new 
shores,  as  at  Hog  Island,  inside  of  Hull,  where 


16  CAPE   COD 

everytliing  seemed  to  be  gently  lapsing  into 
futurity.  This  isle  had  got  the  very  form  of  a 
rij^ple,  —  and  I  thought  that  the  inhabitants 
should  bear  a  ripple  for  device  on  their  shields, 
a  wave  passing  over  them,  with  the  datura, 
which  is  said  to  produce  mental  alienation  of 
long  duration  without  affecting  the  bodily 
health,^  springing  from  its  edge.  The  most  in- 
teresting thing  which  I  heard  of,  in  this  town- 
ship of  Hull,  was  an  unfailing  spring,  whose  lo- 
cality was  pointed  out  to  me,  on  the  side  of  a 
distant  hill,  as  I  was  panting  along  the  shore, 
though  I  did  not  visit  it.  Perhaps,  if  I  should 
go  tlu-ough  Rome,  it  would  be  some  spring  on 
the  CajDitoline  Hill  I  should  remember  the  long- 

^  The  Jamestown  weed  (or  thorn-apple).  "This,  being  an 
early  plant,  was  gathered  very  young  for  a  boiled  salad,  by 
some  of  the  soldiers  sent  thither  [i.  e.,  to  Virginia]  to  quell  the 
rebellion  of  Bacon  ;  and  some  of  them  ate  plentifully  of  it,  the 
effect  of  which  was  a  very  pleasant  comedy,  for  they  turned 
natural  fools  upon  it  for  several  days :  one  would  blow  up  a 
feather  in  the  air ;  another  would  dart  straws  at  it  with  much 
fury  ;  and  another,  stark  naked,  was  sitting  up  in  a  comer  like 
a  monkey,  grinning  and  making  mows  at  them  ;  a  fourth  would 
fondly  kiss  and  paw  his  companions,  and  sneer  in  their  faces, 
with  a  countenance  more  antic  than  any  in  a  Dutch  droll.  In 
this  frantic  condition  they  were  confined,  lest  they  should,  in 
their  folly,  destroy  themselves,  —  though  it  was  observed  that 
all  their  actions  were  full  of  innocence  and  good  nature.  In- 
deed, they  were  not  very  cleanly.  A  thousand  such  simple 
tricks  they  played,  and  after  eleven  days  returned  to  them- 
selves again,  not  remembering  anything  that  had  passed."  — 
Beverly's  History  of  Virginia,  p.  120. 


THE  SHIPWRECK  17 

est.  It  is  true,  I  was  somewhat  interested  in 
the  well  at  the  old  French  fort,  which  was  said 
to  be  ninety  feet  deep,  with  a  cannon  at  the 
bottom  of  it.  On  Nantasket  beach  I  counted  a 
dozen  chaises  from  the  public-house.  From 
time  to  time  the  riders  turned  their  horses 
toward  the  sea,  standing  in  the  water  for  the 
coolness,  —  and  I  saw  the  value  of  beaches  to 
cities  for  the  sea  breeze  and  the  bath. 

At  Jerusalem  village  the  inhabitants  were  col- 
lecting in  haste,  before  a  thunder-shower  now 
approaching,  the  Irish  moss  which  they  had 
spread  to  dry.  The  shower  passed  on  one  side, 
and  gave  me  a  few  drops  only,  which  did  not 
cool  the  air.  I  merely  felt  a  puff  upon  my 
cheek,  though,  within  sight,  a  vessel  was  cap- 
sized in  the  bay,  and  several  others  dragged 
their  anchors,  and  were  near  going  ashore. 
The  sea-bathing  at  Cohasset  Kocks  was  perfect. 
The  water  was  purer  and  more  transparent  than 
any  I  had  ever  seen.  There  was  not  a  particle 
of  mud  or  slime  about  it.  The  bottom  being 
sandy,  I  could  see  the  sea-perch  swimming 
about.  The  smooth  and  fantastically  worn 
rocks,  and  the  perfectly  clean  and  tress-like 
rock-weeds  falling  over  you,  and  attached  so 
firmly  to  the  rocks  that  you  could  pull  yourself 
up  by  them,  greatly  enhanced  the  luxury  of  the 
bath.     The  stripe  of  barnacles  just  above  the 


18  CAPE   COD 

weeds  reminded  me  of  some  vegetable  growth, 
—  the  buds,  and  petals,  and  seed-vessels  of 
flowers.  They  lay  along  the  seams  of  the  rock 
like  buttons  on  a  waistcoat.  It  was  one  of  the 
hottest  days  in  the  year,  yet  I  found  the  water 
so  icy  cold  that  I  could  swim  but  a  stroke  or 
two,  and  thought  that,  in  case  of  shipwreck, 
there  would  be  more  danger  of  being  chilled  to 
death  than  simply  drowned.  One  immersion 
was  enough  to  make  you  forget  the  dog-days 
utterly.  Though  you  were  sweltering  before, 
it  will  take  you  half  an  hour  now  to  remember 
that  it  was  ever  warm.  There  were  the  tawny 
rocks,  like  lions  couchant,  defying  the  ocean, 
whose  waves  incessantly  dashed  against  and 
scoured  them  with  vast  quantities  of  gi-avel. 
The  water  held  in  their  little  hollows,  on  the  re- 
ceding of  the  tide,  was  so  crystalline  that  I  could 
not  believe  it  salt,  but  wished  to  drink  it;  and 
higher  up  were  basins  of  fresh  water  left  by  the 
rain,  —  all  which,  being  also  of  different  depths 
and  temperature,  were  convenient  for  different 
kinds  of  baths.  Also,  the  larger  hollows  in  the 
smoothed  rocks  formed  the  most  convenient  of 
seats  and  dressing-rooms.  In  these  respects  it 
was  the  most  perfect  seashore  that  I  had  seen. 

I  saw  in  Cohasset,  separated  from  the  sea 
only  by  a  narrow  beach,  a  handsome  but  shallow 
lake  of  some  four  hundred  acres,  which,  I  was 


THE  SHIPWRECK  19 

told,  the  sea  had  tossed  over  the  beach  in  a  great 
storm  in  the  spring,  and,  after  the  alewives  had 
passed  into  it,  it  had  stopi^ed  up  its  outlet,  and 
now  the  alewives  were  dving  by  thousands,  and 
the  inhabitants  were  apprehending  a  pestilence 
as  the  water  evaporated.  It  had  five  rocky 
islets  in  it. 

This  rocky  shore  is  called  Pleasant  Cove,  on 
some  maps;  on  the  map  of  Cohasset,  that  name 
appears  to  be  confined  to  the  particular  cove 
where  I  saw  the  wreck  of  the  St.  John.  The 
ocean  did  not  look,  now,  as  if  any  were  ever 
shipwrecked  in  it ;  it  was  not  grand  and  sublime, 
but  beautiful  as  a  lake.  Not  a  vestige  of  a 
wreck  was  visible,  nor  could  I  believe  that  the 
bones  of  many  a  shipwrecked  man  were  buried 
in  that  pure  sand.  But  to  go  on  with  our  first 
excursion. 


n 

STAGE-COACH   VIEWS 

After  spending  the  night  in  Briclgewater, 
and  picking  up  a  few  arrow-heads  there  in  the 
morning,  we  took  the  cars  for  Sandwich,  where 
we  arrived  before  noon.  This  was  the  terminus 
of  the  "Cape  Cod  Raih-oad,"  though  it  is  but 
the  beginning  of  the  Cape.  As  it  rained  hard, 
with  driving  mists,  and  there  was  no  sign  of  its 
holding  up,  we  here  took  that  almost  obsolete 
conveyance,  the  stage,  for  "as  far  as  it  went 
that  day,"  as  we  told  the  driver.  We  had  for- 
gotten how  far  a  stage  could  go  in  a  day,  but 
we  were  told  that  the  Cape  roads  were  very 
"heavy,"  though  they  added  that  being  of  sand, 
the  rain  would  improve  them.  This  coach  was 
an  exceedingly  narrow  one,  but  as  there  was  a 
slight  spherical  excess  over  two  on  a  seat,  the 
driver  waited  till  nine  passengers  had  got  in, 
without  taking  the  measure  of  any  of  them,  and 
then  shut  the  door  after  two  or  three  ineffectual 
slams,  as  if  the  fault  were  all  in  the  hinges  or 
the  latch,  —  while  we  timed  our  inspirations  and 
expirations  so  as  to  assist  him. 


STAGE-COACH   VIEWS  21 

We  were  now  fairly  on  the  Cape,  which  ex- 
tends from  Sandwich  eastward  thirty-five  miles, 
and  thence  north  and  northwest  thirty  more,  in 
all  sixty-five,  and  has  an  average  breadth  of 
about  five  miles.  In  the  interior  it  rises  to  the 
height  of  two  hundred,  and  sometimes  perhaps 
three  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 
According  to  Hitchcock,  the  geologist  of  the 
State,  it  is  composed  almost  entirely  of  sand, 
even  to  the  depth  of  three  hundred  feet  in  some 
places,  though  there  is  probably  a  concealed 
core  of  rock  a  little  beneath  the  surface,  and  it 
is  of  diluvian  origin,  excepting  a  small  portion 
at  the  extremity  and  elsewhere  along  the  shores, 
which  is  alluvial.  For  the  first  half  of  the 
Cape  large  blocks  of  stone  are  found,  here  and 
there,  mixed  with  the  sand,  but  for  the  last 
thirty  miles  boulders,  or  even  gravel,  are  rarely 
met  with.  Hitchcock  conjectures  that  the  ocean 
has,  in  course  of  time,  eaten  out  Boston  Harbor 
and  other  bays  in  the  mainland,  and  that  the 
minute  fragments  have  been  deposited  by  the 
currents  at  a  distance  from  the  shore,  and 
formed  this  sand-bank.  Above  the  sand,  if  the 
surface  is  subjected  to  agricultural  tests,  there 
is  found  to  be  a  thin  layer  of  soil  gradually 
diminishing  from  Barnstable  to  Truro,  where  it 
ceases;  but  there  are  many  holes  and  rents  in 
this  weather-beaten   garment  not   likely  to   be 


22  CAPE  COD 

stitched  in  time,  which  reveal  the  naked  flesh  of 
the  Cape,  and  its  extremity  is  completely  bare. 

I  at  once  got  out  my  book,  the  eighth  volume 
of  the  Collections  of  the  Massachusetts  Histori- 
cal Society,  printed  in  1802,  which  contains 
some  short  notices  of  the  Cape  towns,  and  be- 
gan to  read  up  to  where  I  was,  for  in  the  cars  I 
could  not  read  as  fast  as  I  traveled.  To  those 
who  came  from  the  side  of  Plymouth,  it  said, 
"After  riding  through  a  body  of  woods,  twelve 
miles  in  'extent,  interspersed  with  but  few 
houses,  the  settlement  of  Sandwich  appears, 
with  a  more  agreeable  effect,  to  the  eye  of  the 
traveler."  Another  writer  speaks  of  this  as  a 
beautiful  village.  But  I  think  that  our  villages 
will  bear  to  be  contrasted  only  with  one  another, 
not  with  Nature.  I  have  no  great  respect  for 
the  writer's  taste,  who  talks  easily  about  heau- 
tiful  villages,  embellished,  perchance,  with  a 
"fulling-mill,"  "a  handsome  academy,"  or  a 
meeting-house,  and  "a  number  of  shops  for  the 
different  mechanic  arts;"  where  the  green  and 
white  houses  of  the  gentry,  drawn  up  in  rows, 
front  on  a  street  of  which  it  would  be  difficult 
to  tell  whether  it  is  most  like  a  desert  or  a  long 
stable-yard.  Such  spots  can  be  beautiful  only 
to  the  weary  traveler,  or  the  returning  native, 
—  or,  perchance,  the  repentant  misanthrope; 
not  to  him  who,  with  unprejudiced  senses,  has 


STAGE-COACH   VIEWS  23 

just  come  out  of  the  woods,  and  approaches  one 
of  them,  by  a  bare  road,  through  a  succession 
of  straggling  homesteads  where  he  cannot  tell 
which  is  the  almshouse.  However,  as  for 
Sandwich,  I  cannot  speak  particularly.  Ours 
was  but  half  a  Sandwich  at  most,  and  that  must 
have  fallen  on  the  buttered  side  some  time.  I 
only  saw  that  it  was  a  closely -built  town  for  a 
small  one,  with  glass-works  to  improve  its  sand, 
and  narrow  streets  in  which  we  turned  round 
and  round  till  we  could  not  tell  which  way  we 
were  going,  and  the  rain  came  in,  first  on  this 
side  and  then  on  that,  and  I  saw  that  they  in 
the  houses  were  more  comfortable  than  we  in 
the  coach.  My  book  also  said  of  this  town, 
"The  inhabitants,  in  general,  are  substantial 
livers,"  —  that  is,  I  suppose,  they  do  not  live 
like  philosophers;  but,  as  the  stage  did  not  stop 
long  enough  for  us  to  dine,  we  had  no  opportu- 
nity to  test  the  truth  of  this  statement.  It  may 
have  referred,  however,  to  the  quantity  "of  oil 
they  would  yield."  It  further  said,  "The  in- 
habitants of  Sandwich  generally  manifest  a  fond 
and  steady  adherence  to  the  manners,  employ- 
ments and  modes  of  living  which  characterized 
their  fathers,"  which  made  me  think  that  they 
were,  after  all,  very  much  like  all  the  rest  of 
the  world;  —  and  it  added  that  this  was  "a  re- 
semblance, which,  at  this  day,  will  constitute  no 


24  CAPE  COD 

impeachment  of  either  their  virtue  or  taste ;  " 
which  remark  proves  to  me  that  the  writer  was 
one  with  the  rest  of  them.  No  people  ever  lived 
by  cursing  their  fathers,  however  great  a  curse 
their  fathers  might  have  been  to  them.  But  it 
must  be  confessed  that  ours  was  old  authority, 
and  probably  they  have  changed  all  that  now. 

Our  route  was  along  the  Bay  side,  through 
Barnstable,  Yarmouth,  Dennis,  and  Brewster, 
to  Orleans,  with  a  range  of  low  hills  on  our 
right,  running  down  the  Cape.  The  weather 
was  not  favorable  for  wayside  views,  but  we 
made  the  most  of  such  glimpses  of  land  and 
water  as  we  could  get  through  the  rain.  The 
country  was,  for  the  most  part,  bare,  or  with 
only  a  little  scrubby  wood  left  on  the  hills. 
We  noticed  in  Yarmouth  —  and,  if  I  do  not 
mistake,  in  Dennis  —  large  tracts  where  pitch- 
pines  were  planted  four  or  five  years  before. 
They  were  in  rows,  as  they  appeared  when  we 
were  abreast  of  them,  and,  excepting  that  there 
were  extensive  vacant  spaces,  seemed  to  be 
doing  remarkably  well.  This,  we  were  told, 
was  the  only  use  to  which  such  tracts  could  be 
profitably  put.  Every  higher  eminence  had  a 
pole  set  up  on  it,  with  an  old  storm-coat  or  sail 
tied  to  it,  for  a  signal,  that  those  on  the  south 
side  of  the  Cape,  for  instance,  might  know  when 
the  Boston  packets  had  arrived  on  the  north.    It 


STAGE-COACH    VIEWS  25 

appeared  as  if  this  use  must  absorb  the  greater 
part  of  the  old  clothes  of  the  Cape,  leaving  but 
few  rags  for  the  peddlers.  The  windmills  on 
the  hills,  —  large  weather-stained  octagonal 
structures,  —  and  the  salt-works  scattered  all 
along  the  shore,  with  their  long  rows  of  vats 
resting  on  piles  driven  into  the  marsh,  their 
low,  turtle-like  roofs,  and  their  slighter  wind- 
mills, were  novel  and  interesting  objects  to  an 
inlander.  The  sand  by  the  roadside  was  par- 
tially covered  with  bunches  of  a  moss-like  plant, 
Hudsonia  tomeiitosa,  which  a  woman  in  the 
stage  told  us  was  called  "poverty  grass,"  be- 
cause it  grew  where  nothing  else  would. 

I  was  struck  by  the  pleasant  equality  which 
reigned  among  the  stage  company,  and  their 
broad  and  invulnerable  good  humor.  They 
were  what  is  called  free  and  easy,  and  met  one 
another  to  advantage,  as  men  who  had,  at 
length,  learned  how  to  live.  They  appeared  to 
know  each  other  when  they  were  strangers,  they 
were  so  simple  and  downright.  They  were  well 
met,  in  an  unusual  sense,  that  is,  they  met  aa 
well  as  they  could  meet,  and  did  not  seem  to  be 
troubled  with  any  impediment.  They  were  not 
afraid  nor  ashamed  of  one  another,  but  were 
contented  to  make  just  such  a  company  as  the 
ingredients  allowed.  It  was  evident  that  the 
same  foolish  respect  was  not  here  claimed,  for 


26  CAPE   COD 

mere  wealth  and  station,  that  is  in  many  parts 
of  New  England;  yet  some  of  them  were  the 
"first  people,"  as  they  are  called,  of  the  various 
towns  through  which  we  passed.  Eetired  sea- 
captains,  in  easy  circumstances,  who  talked  of 
farming  as  sea-captains  are  wont;  an  erect,  I'e- 
spedtable,  and  trustworthy-looking  man,  in  his 
wrapper,  some  of  the  salt  of  the  earth,  who  had 
formerly  been  the  salt  of  the  sea;  or  a  more 
courtly  gentleman,  who,  perchance,  had  been  a 
representative  to  the  General  Court  in  his  day; 
or  a  broad,  red-faced.  Cape  Cod  man,  who  had 
seen  too  many  storms  to  be  easily  irritated;  or 
a  fisherman's  wife,  who  had  been  waiting  a 
week  for  a  coaster  to  leave  Boston,  and  had  at 
length  come  by  the  cars. 

A  strict  regard  for  truth  obliges  us  to  say, 
that  the  few  women  whom  we  saw  that  day 
looked  exceedingly  pinched  up.  They  had 
prominent  chins  and  noses,  having  lost  all  their 
teeth,  and  a  sharp  W  would  represent  their 
profile.  They  were  not  so  well  preserved  as 
their  husbands;  or  perchance  they  were  well 
preserved  as  dried  specimens.  (Their  hus- 
bands, however,  were  pickled.)  But  we  respect 
them  not  the  less  for  all  that;  our  own  dental 
system  is  far  from  perfect. 

Still  we  kept  on  in  the  rain,  or,  if  we  stopped, 
it  was  commonly  at  a  post-office,  and  we  thought 


STAGE-COACH    VIEWS  27 

that  writing  letters,  and  sorting  them  against 
our  arrival,  must  be  the  principal  employment 
of  the  inhabitants  o£  the  Cape  this  rainy  day. 
The  post-office  appeared  a  singularly  domestic 
institution  here.  Ever  and  anon  the  stage 
stopped  before  some  low  shop  or  dwelling,  and 
a  wheelwright  or  shoemaker  appeared  in  his 
shirt-sleeves  and  leather  apron,  with  spectacles 
newly  donned,  holding  up  Uncle  Sam's  bag,  as 
if  it  were  a  slice  of  home-made  cake,  for  the 
travelers,  while  he  retailed  some  piece  of  gossip 
to  the  driver,  really  as  indifferent  to  the  pres- 
ence of  the  former  as  if  they  were  so  much  bag- 
gage. In  one  instance,  we  understood  that  a 
woman  was  the  post-mistress,  and  they  said  that 
she  made  the  best  one  on  the  road ;  but  we  sus- 
pected that  the  letters  must  be  subjected  to  a 
very  close  scrutiny  there.  While  we  were 
stopping,  for  this  purpose,  at  Dennis,  we  ven- 
tured to  put  our  heads  out  of  the  windows,  to 
see  where  we  were  going,  and  saw  rising  before 
us,  through  the  mist,  singular  barren  hills,  all 
stricken  with  poverty-grass,  looming  up  as  if 
they  were  in  the  horizon,  though  they  were  close 
to  us,  and  we  seemed  to  have  got  to  the  end  of 
the  land  on  that  side,  notwithstanding  that  the 
horses  were  still  headed  that  way.  Indeed, 
that  part  of  Dennis  which  we  saw  was  an  exceed- 
ingly barren  and  desolate  country,  of  a  char- 


28  CAPE   COD 

acter  which  I  can  find  no  name  for ;  such  a  sur- 
face, perhaps,  as  the  bottom  of  the  sea  made 
dry  land  day  before  j^esterday.  It  was  covered 
with  poverty-grass,  and  there  was  hardly  a  tree 
in  sight,  but  here  and  there  a  little  weather- 
stained,  one-storied  house,  with  a  red  roof,  — 
for  often  the  roof  was  j^ainted,  though  the  rest 
of  the  house  was  not,  —  standing  bleak  and 
cheedess,  yet  with  a  broad  foundation  to  the 
land,  where  the  comfort  must  have  been  all  in- 
side. Yet  we  read  in  the  Gazetteer,  —  for  we 
carried  that  too  with  us,  —  that,  in  1837,  one 
hundred  and  fifty  masters  of  vessels,  belonging 
to  this  town,  sailed  from  the  various  ports  of 
the  Union.  There  must  be  many  more  houses 
in  the  south  part  of  the  town,  else  we  cannot 
imagine  where  they  all  lodge  when  they  are  at 
home,  if  ever  they  are  there;  but  the  truth  is, 
their  houses  are  floating  ones,  and  their  home  is 
on  the  ocean.  There  were  almost  no  trees  at 
all  in  this  part  of  Dennis,  nor  could  I  learn  that 
they  talked  of  setting  out  any.  It  is  true,  there 
was  a  meeting-house,  set  round  with  Lombardy 
poplars,  in  a  hollow  square,  the  rows  fully  as 
straight  as  the  studs  of  a  building,  and  the  cor- 
ners as  square;  but,  if  I  do  not  mistake,  every 
one  of  them  was  dead.  I  could  not  help  think- 
ing that  they  needed  a  revival  here.  Our  book 
said  that,  in  1795,  thei*e  was  erected  in  Dennis, 


STAGE-COACH   VIEWS  29 

"  an  elegant  meeting-house,  with  a  steeple." 
Perhaps  this  was  the  one  ;  though  whether  it 
had  a  steeple,  or  had  died  down  so  far  from 
sympathy  with  the  poplars,  I  do  not  remember. 
Another  meeting-house  in  this  town  was  de- 
scribed as  a  "  neat  building  ;  "  but  of  the  meet- 
ing-house in  Chatham,  a  neighboring  town,  for 
there  was  then  but  one,  nothing  is  said,  except 
that  it  "  is  in  good  repair,"  —  both  which  re- 
marks, I  trust,  may  be  understood  as  applying 
to  the  churches  spiritual  as  well  as  material. 
However,  "  elegant  meeting-houses,"  from  that 
Trinity  one  on  Broadway,  to  this  at  Nobscus- 
set,  in  my  estimation,  belong  to  the  same  cate- 
gory with  "  beautiful  villages."  I  was  never  in 
season  to  see  one.  Handsome  is  that  handsome 
does.  What  they  did  for  shade  here,  in  warm 
weather,  we  did  not  know,  though  we  read  that 
"  fogs  are  more  frequent  in  Chatham  than  in 
any  other  part  of  the  country ;  and  they  serve 
in  summer,  instead  of  trees,  to  shelter  the  houses 
against  the  heat  of  the  sun.  To  those  who  de- 
light in  extensive  vision,"  —  is  it  to  be  inferred 
that  the  inhabitants  of  Chatham  do  not  ?  — 
"  they  are  unpleasant,  but  they  are  not  found 
to  be  unhealthful."  Probably,  also,  the  unob- 
structed sea-breeze  answers  the  purpose  of  a  fan. 
The  historian  of  Chatham  says  further,  that  "  in 
many  families  there  is  no  difference  between  the 


30  CAPE  COD 

breakfast  and  supper;  cheese,  cakes,  and  pies 
being  as  common  at  the  one  as  at  the  other." 
But  that  leaves  us  still  uncertain  whether  they 
were  really  common  at  either. 

The  road,  which  was  quite  hilly,  here  ran 
near  the  Bay-shore,  having  the  Bay  on  one  side, 
and  "the  rough  hill  of  Scargo,"  said  to  be  the 
highest  land  on  the  Cape,  on  the  other.  Of  the 
wide  prospect  of  the  Bay  afforded  by  the  sum- 
mit of  this  hill,  our  guide  says,  "  The  view  has 
not  much  of  the  beautiful  in  it,  but  it  commu- 
nicates a  strong  emotion  of  the  sublime."  That 
is  the  kind  of  communication  which  we  love  to 
have  made  to  us.  We  passed  through  the  vil- 
lage of  Suet,  in  Dennis,  on  Suet  and  Quivet 
Necks,  of  which  it  is  said,  "when  compared  with 
Nobscusset,"  —  we  had  a  misty  recollection  of 
having  passed  through,  or  near  to,  the  latter, 
—  "  it  may  be  denominated  a  pleasant  village ; 
but,  in  comparison  with  the  village  of  Sandwich, 
there  is  little  or  no  beauty  in  it."  However,  we 
liked  Dennis  well,  better  than  any  town  we  had 
seen  on  the  Cape,  it  was  so  novel,  and,  in  that 
stormy  day,  so  sublimely  dreary. 

Captain  John  Sears,  of  Suet,  was  the  first 
person  in  this  country  who  obtained  pure  marine 
salt  by  solar  evaporation  alone ;  though  it  had 
long  been  made  in  a  similar  way  on  the  coast  of 
France,  and  elsewhere.     This  was  in  the  year 


STAGE-COACH   VIEWS  31 

1776,  at  which  time,  on  account  of  the  war,  salt 
was  scarce  and  dear.  The  Historical  Collec- 
tions contain  an  interesting  account  of  his  ex- 
periments, which  we  read  when  we  first  saw  the 
roofs  of  the  salt-works.  Barnstable  County  is 
the  most  favorable  locality  for  these  works  on 
our  northern  coast,  —  there  is  so  little  fresh 
water  here  emptying  into  ocean.  Quite  recently 
there  were  about  two  millions  of  dollars  invested 
in  this  business  here.  But  now  the  Cape  is  un- 
able to  compete  with  the  importers  of  salt  and 
the  manufacturers  of  it  at  the  West,  and,  ac- 
cordingly, her  salt-works  are  fast  going  to  de- 
cay. From  making  salt,  they  turn  to  fishing 
more  than  ever.  The  Gazetteer  will  uniformly 
tell  you,  under  the  head  of  each  town,  how  many 
go  a-fishing,  and  the  value  of  the  fish  and  oil 
taken,  how  much  salt  is  made  and  used,  how 
many  are  engaged  in  the  coasting  trade,  how 
many  in  manufacturing  palm -leaf  hats,  leather, 
boots,  shoes,  and  tinware,  and  then  it  has  done, 
and  leaves  you  to  imagine  the  more  truly  do- 
mestic manufactures  which  are  nearly  the  same 
all  the  world  over. 

Late  in  the  afternoon,  we  rode  through  Brews- 
ter, so  named  after  Elder  Brewster,  for  fear  he 
would  be  forgotten  else.  Who  has  not  heard 
of  Elder  Bi-ewster?  Who  knows  who  he  was? 
This  appeared  to  be  the  modern-built  town  of 


32  CAPE   COD 

the  Cape,  the  favorite  residence  of  retired  sea- 
captains.  It  is  said  that  "there  are  more  mas- 
ters and  mates  of  vessels  which  sail  on  foreign 
voyages  belonging  to  this  place  than  to  any  other 
town  in  the  country."  There  were  many  of  the 
modern  American  houses  here,  such  as  they  turn 
out  at  Cambridgeport,  standing  on  the  sand; 
you  could  almost  swear  that  they  had  been 
floated  down  Charles  River,  and  drifted  across 
the  bay.  I  call  them  American,  because  they 
are  paid  for  by  Americans,  and  "put  up"  by 
American  carpenters;  but  they  are  little  re- 
moved from  lumber;  only  Eastern  stuff  dis- 
guised with  white  paint,  the  least  interesting 
kind  of  drift-wood  to  me.  Perhaps  we  have 
reason  to  be  proud  of  our  naval  architecture,  and 
need  not  go  to  the  Greeks,  or  the  Goths,  or  the 
Italians,  for  the  models  of  our  vessels.  Sea- 
captains  do  not  employ  a  CambridgejDort  car- 
penter to  build  their  floating  houses,  and  for 
their  houses  on  shore,  if  they  must  co])j  any,  it 
would  be  more  agreeable  to  the  imagination  to 
see  one  of  their  vessels  turned  bottom  upward, 
in  the  Numidian  fashion.  We  read  that,  "at 
certain  seasons,  the  reflection  of  the  sun  upon 
the  windows  of  the  houses  in  Wellfleet  and  Truro 
(across  the  inner  side  of  the  elbow  of  the  Cape) 
is  discernible  with  the  naked  eye,  at  a  distance 
of  eighteen  miles  and  upward,   on  the  county 


STAGE-COACH   VIEWS  83 

road."  This  we  were  pleased  to  imagine,  as  we 
had  not  seen  the  sun  for  twenty-four  hours. 

The  same  author  (the  Rev.  John  Simpkins) 
said  of  the  inhabitants,  a  good  while  ago:  "No 
persons  appear  to  have  a  greater  relish  for  the 
social  circle  and  domestic  pleasures.  They  are 
not  in  the  habit  of  frequenting  taverns,  unless 
on  public  occasions.  I  know  not  of  a  proper 
idler  or  tavern -haunter  in  the  place."  This  is 
more  than  can  be  said  of  my  townsmen. 

At  length,  we  stopped  for  the  night  at  Hig- 
gins's  tavern,  in  Orleans,  feeling  very  much  as 
if  we  were  on  a  sand-bar  in  the  ocean,  and  not 
knowing  whether  we  should  see  land  or  water 
ahead  when  the  mist  cleared  away.  We  here 
overtook  two  Italian  boys,  who  had  waded  thus 
far  down  the  Cape  through  the  sand,  with  their 
organs  on  their  backs,  and  were  going  on  to 
Provincetown.  What  a  hard  lot,  we  thought, 
if  the  Provincetown  people  should  shut  their 
doors  against  them!  Whose  yard  would  they 
go  to  next?  Yet  we  concluded  that  they  had 
chosen  wisely  to  come  here,  where  other  music 
than  that  of  the  svirf  must  be  rare.  Thus  the 
great  civilizer  sends  out  his  emissaries,  sooner  or 
later,  to  every  sandy  cape  and  light-house  of  the 
New  World  which  the  census-taker  visits,  and 
summons  the  savage  there  to  surrender. 


in 

THE   PLAINS   OF  NAUSET 

The  next  morning,  Thursday,  October  11,  it 
rained  as  hard  as  ever;  but  we  were  determined 
to  proceed  on  foot,  nevertheless.  We  first 
made  some  inquiries,  with  regard  to  the  practi- 
cability of  walking  up  the  shore  on  the  Atlantic 
side  to  Provincetown,  whether  we  should  meet 
with  any  creeks  or  marshes  to  trouble  us.  Hig- 
gins  said  that  there  was  no  obstruction,  and  that 
it  was  not  much  farther  than  by  the  road,  but  he 
thought  that  we  should  find  it  very  "heavy" 
walking  in  the  sand ;  it  was  bad  enough  in  the 
road,  a  horse  would  sink  in  up  to  the  fetlocks 
there.  But  there  was  one  man  at  the  tavern 
who  had  walked  it,  and  he  said  that  we  could 
go  very  well,  though  it  was  sometimes  inconven- 
ient and  even  dangerous  walking  under  the 
bank,  when  there  was  a  great  tide,  with  an  east- 
erly wind,  which  caused  the  sand  to  cave.  For 
the  first  four  or  five  miles  we  followed  the  road, 
which  here  turns  to  the  north  on  the  elbow,  — 
the  narrowest  part  of  the  Cape,  —  that  we  might 
clear  an  inlet  from  the  ocean,  a  part  of  Nauset 


THE  PLAINS   OF  NAUSET  35 

Harbor,  in  Orleans,  on  our  right.  We  found 
the  traveling-  good  enough  for  walkers  on  the 
sides  of  the  roads,  though  it  was  "heavy"  for 
horses  in  the  middle.  We  walked  with  our  um- 
brellas behind  us  since  it  blowed  hard  as  well  as 
rained,  with  driving  mists,  as  the  day  before, 
and  the  wind  helped  us  over  the  sand  at  a  rapid 
rate.  Everything  indicated  that  we  had  reached 
a  strange  shore.  The  road  was  a  mere  lane, 
winding  over  bare  swells  of  bleak  and  barren- 
looking  land.  The  houses  were  few  and  far  be- 
tween, besides  being  small  and  rusty,  though 
they  appeared  to  be  kept  in  good  repair,  and 
their  door-yards,  which  were  the  unfenced  Cape, 
were  tidy;  or,  rather,  they  looked  as  if  the 
ground  around  them  was  blown  clean  by  the 
wind.  Perhaps  the  scarcity  of  wood  here,  and 
the  consequent  absence  of  the  wood-pile  and 
other  wooden  traps,  had  something  to  do  with 
this  appearance.  They  seemed,  like  mariners 
ashore,  to  have  sat  right  down  to  enjoy  the  firm- 
ness of  the  land,  without  studying  their  postures 
or  habiliments.  To  them  it  was  merely  terra 
firma  and  cognita,  not  yet  fertilis  a,ndjiccunda. 
Every  landscape  which  is  dreary  enough  has  a 
certain  beauty  to  my  eyes,  and  in  this  instance 
its  permanent  qualities  were  enhanced  by  the 
weather.  Everything  told  of  the  sea,  even 
when  we  did  not  see  its  waste  or  hear  its  roar. 


3G  CAPE   COD 

For  birds  there  were  giills,  and  for  carts  in  the 
fiekls,  boats  turned  bottom  upward  against  the 
houses,  and  sometimes  the  rib  of  a  whale  was 
woven  into  the  fence  by  the  roadside.  The 
trees  were,  if  possible,  rarer  than  the  houses, 
excepting  apple-trees,  of  which  there  were  a 
few  small  orchards  in  the  hollows.  These  were 
either  narrow  and  high,  with  flat  tops,  having 
lost  their  side  branches,  like  huge  plum-bushes 
growing  in  exposed  situations,  or  else  dwarfed 
and  branching  immediately  at  the  ground,  like 
quince-bushes.  They  suggested  that,  under 
like  circumstances,  all  trees  would  at  last  ac- 
quire like  habits  of  growth.  I  afterward  saw 
on  the  Cape  many  full-grown  apple-trees  not 
higher  than  a  man's  head;  one  whole  orchard, 
indeed,  where  all  the  fruit  could  have  been 
gathered  by  a  man  standing  on  the  ground;  but 
you  could  hardly  creep  beneath  the  trees. 
Some,  which  the  owners  told  me  were  twenty 
years  old,  were  only  three  and  a  half  feet  high, 
spreading  at  six  inches  from  the  ground  five 
feet  each  way,  and  being  withal  surrounded 
with  boxes  of  tar  to  catch  the  canker-worms, 
they  looked  like  plants  in  flower-pots,  and  as  if 
they  might  be  taken  into  the  house  in  the  winter. 
In  another  place,  I  saw  some  not  much  larger 
than  currant-bushes ;  yet  the  owner  told  me  that 
they  had  borne  a  barrel  and  a  half  of  apples 


THE  PLAINS   OF  NAUSET  37 

that  fall.  If  they  had  been  placed  close  to- 
gether, I  could  have  cleared  them  all  at  a  jump. 
I  measured  some  near  the  Highland  Light  in 
Truro,  which  had  been  taken  from  the  shrubby 
woods  thereabouts  when  young,  and  grafted. 
One,  which  had  been  set  ten  years,  was  on  an 
average  eighteen  inches  high,  and  spread  nine 
feet,  with  a  flat  top.  It  had  borne  one  bushel  of 
apples  two  years  before.  Another,  probably 
twenty  years  old  from  the  seed,  was  five  feet 
high,  and  spread  eighteen  feet,  branching,  as 
usual,  at  the  ground,  so  that  you  could  not  creep 
under  it.  This  bore  a  barrel  of  apples  two 
years  before.  The  owner  of  these  trees  invari- 
ably used  the  personal  pronoun  in  speaking  of 
them;  as,  "I  got  him  out  of  the  woods,  but  he 
doesn't  bear."  The  largest  that  I  saw  in  that 
neighborhood  was  nine  feet  high  to  the  topmost 
leaf,  and  spread  thirty-three  feet,  branching  at 
the  ground  five  ways. 

In  one  yard  I  observed  a  single,  very  healthy- 
looking  tree,  while  all  the  rest  were  dead  or  dy- 
ing. The  occupant  said  that  his  father  had 
manured  all  but  that  one  with  blackfish. 

This  habit  of  growth  should,  no  doubt,  be 
encouraged,  and  they  should  not  be  trimmed 
up,  as  some  traveling  practitioners  have  ad- 
vised. In  1802  there  was  not  a  single  fruit-tree 
in  Chatham,  the  next  town  to  Orleans,  on  the 


189921 


38  CAPE   COD 

south;  and  the  ohl  account  of  Orleans  says: 
"Fruit-trees  cannot  be  made  to  grow  within  a 
mile  of  the  ocean.  Even  those  which  are  placed 
at  a  greater  distance  are  injured  by  the  east 
winds;  and,  after  violent  storms  in  the  spring, 
a  saltish  taste  is  perceptible  on  their  bark." 
V^e  noticed  that  they  were  often  covered  with  a 
yellow  lichen  like  rust,  the  Parmelia  pai^ietina. 
The  most  foreign  and  picturesque  structures 
on  the  Cape,  to  an  inlander,  not  excepting  the 
salt-works,  are  the  wind-mills,  —  gray -looking, 
octagonal  towers,  with  long  timbers  slanting  to 
the  ground  in  the  rear,  and  there  resting  on  a 
cart-wheel,  by  which  their  fans  are  turned 
round  to  face  the  wind.  These  appeared  also 
to  serve  in  some  measure  for  props  against  its 
force.  A  great  circular  rut  was  worn  around 
the  building  by  the  wheel.  The  neighbors  who 
assemble  to  turn  the  mill  to  the  wind  are  likely 
to  know  which  way  it  blows,  without  a  weather- 
cock. They  looked  loose  and  slightly  locomo- 
tive, like  huge  wounded  birds,  trailing  a  wing 
or  a  leg,  and  reminded  one  of  pictures  of  the 
Netherlands.  Being  on  elevated  ground,  and 
high  in  themselves,  they  serve  as  landmarks,  — 
for  there  are  no  tall  trees,  or  other  objects  com- 
monly, which  can  be  seen  at  a  distance  in  the 
horizon ;  though  the  outline  of  the  land  itself  is 
so  firm  and  distinct,  that  an  insignificant  cone, 


THE  PLAINS   OF  NAUSET  39 

or  even  precipice  of  sand,  is  visible  at  a  great 
distance  from  over  the  sea.  Sailors  making  the 
land  commonly  steer  either  by  the  wind  mills, 
or  the  meeting-houses.  In  the  country,  we  are 
obliged  to  steer  by  the  meeting-houses  alone. 
Yet  the  meeting-house  is  a  kind  of  wind  mill, 
which  runs  one  day  in  seven,  turned  either  by 
the  winds  of  doctrine  or  public  opinion,  or  more 
rarely  by  the  winds  of  Heaven,  where  another 
sort  of  grist  is  ground,  of  which,  if  it  be  not  all 
bran  or  musty,  if  it  be  not  i^laster,  we  trust  to 
make  bread  of  life. 

There  were,  here  and  there,  heaps  of  shells 
in  the  fields,  where  clams  had  been  opened  for 
bait;  for  Orleans  is  famous  for  its  shell-fish, 
especially  clams,  or,  as  our  author  says,  "to 
speak  more  properly,  worms."  The  shores  are 
more  fertile  than  the  dry  land.  The  inhabi- 
tants measure  their  crops,  not  only  by  bushels 
of  corn,  but  by  barrels  of  clams.  A  thousand 
barrels  of  clam-bait  are  counted  as  equal  in 
value  to  six  or  eight  thousand  bushels  of  Indian 
corn,  and  once  they  were  procured  without 
more  labor  or  expense,  and  the  supply  was 
thought  to  be  inexhaustible.  "For,"  runs  the 
liistory,  "after  a  portion  of  the  shore  has  been 
dug  over,  and  almost  all  the  clams  taken  up,  at 
the  end  of  two  years,  it  is  said,  they  are  as 
plenty  there  as   ever.     It  is  even  affirmed  by 


40  CAPE   COD 

many  persons,  that  it  is  as  necessary  to  stir  the 
clam  ground  frequently  as  it  is  to  hoe  a  field  of 
potatoes;  because,  if  this  labor  is  omitted,  the 
clams  will  be  crowded  too  closely  together,  and 
will  be  prevented  from  increasing  in  size."  But 
we  were  told  that  the  small  clam,  Jlya  arenar'ia^ 
was  not  so  plenty  here  as  formerly.  Probably 
the  clam-ground  has  been  stirred  too  frequently, 
after  all.  Nevertheless,  one  man,  who  com- 
plained that  they  fed  pigs  with  them  and  so 
made  them  scarce,  told  me  that  he  dug  and 
opened  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  dollars' 
worth  in  one  winter,  in  Truro. 

We  crossed  a  brook,  not  more  than  fourteen 
rods  long  between  Orleans  and  Eastham  called 
Jeremiah's  Gutter.  The  Atlantic  is  said  some- 
times to  meet  the  Bay  here,  and  isolate  the 
northern  part  of  the  Cape.  The  streams  of  the 
Cape  are  necessarily  formed  on  a  minute  scale 
since  there  is  no  room  for  them  to  run,  without 
tumbling  immediately  into  the  sea;  and  beside, 
we  found  it  difficult  to  run  ourselves  in  that 
sand,  when  there  was  no  want  of  room.  Hence, 
the  least  channel  where  water  runs,  or  may  run, 
is  important,  and  is  dignified  with  a  name. 
We  read  that  there  is  no  running  water  in 
Chatham,  which  is  the  next  town.  The  barren 
aspect  of  the  land  would  hardly  be  believed  if 
described.     It  was  such  soil,  or  rather  land,  as. 


THE  PLAINS   OF  NAUSET  41 

to  judge  from  appearances,  no  farmer  in  the  in- 
terior would  think  of  cultivating,  or  even  fenc- 
ing. Generally,  the  ploughed  fields  of  the  Cape 
look  white  and  yellow,  like  a  mixture  of  salt 
and  Indian  meal.  This  is  called  soil.  All  an 
inlander's  notions  of  soil  and  fertility  will  be 
confounded  by  a  visit  to  these  parts,  and  he  will 
not  be  able,  for  some  time  afterward,  to  distin- 
guish soil  from  sand.  The  historian  of  Chatham 
says  of  a  part  of  that  town,  which  has  been 
gained  from  the  sea:  "There  is  a  doubtful  ap- 
pearance of  a  soil  beginning  to  be  formed.  It 
is  styled  douhtful^  because  it  would  not  be  ob- 
served by  every  eye,  and  perhaps  not  acknow- 
ledged by  many."  We  thought  that  this  would 
not  be  a  bad  description  of  the  greater  part  of 
the  Cape.  There  is  a  "beach  "  on  the  west  side 
of  Eastham,  which  we  crossed  the  next  summer, 
half  a  mile  wide,  and  stretching  across  the  town- 
ship, containing  seventeen  hundred  acres  on 
which  there  is  not  now  a  particle  of  vegetable 
mould,  though  it  formerly  produced  wheat.  All 
sands  are  here  called  "beaches,"  whether  they 
are  waves  of  water  or  of  air,  that  dash  against 
them,  since  they  commonly  have  their  origin  on 
the  shore.  "The  sand  in  some  places,"  says 
the  historian  of  Eastham,  "lodging  against  the 
beach-grass,  has  been  raised  into  hills  fifty  feet 
high,  where  twenty-five  years  ago  no  hills  ex 


42  CAPE   COD 

isted.  In  others  it  has  filled  up  small  valleys, 
and  swamps.  Where  a  strong  -  rooted  bush 
stood,  the  appearance  is  singular;  a  mass  of 
earth  and  sand  adheres  to  it,  resembling  a  small 
tower.  In  several  places,  rocks,  which  were 
formerly  covered  with  soil,  are  disclosed,  and 
being  lashed  by  the  sand,  driven  against  them 
by  the  wind,  look  as  if  they  were  recently  dug 
from  a  quarry." 

We  were  sui'prised  to  hear  of  the  great  crops 
of  corn  which  are  still  raised  in  Eastham,  not- 
withstanding the  real  and  apj)arent  barrenness. 
Our  landlord  in  Orleans  had  told  us  that  he 
raised  three  or  four  hundred  bushels  of  corn 
annually,  and  also  of  the  great  number  of  pigs 
which  he  fattened.  In  Champlain's  "Voyages," 
there  is  a  plate  representing  the  Indian  corn- 
fields hereabouts,  with  their  wigwams  in  the 
midst,  as  they  appeared  in  1605,  and  it  was 
here  that  the  Pilgrims,  to  quote  their  own 
words,  "bought  eight  or  ten  hogsheads  of  corn 
and  beans  "  of  the  Nauset  Indians,  in  1622,  to 
keep  themselves  from  starving.^     "In  1667  the 

^  They  touched  after  this  at  a  place  called  Mattachiest, 
•where  they  got  more  corn ;  but  their  shallop  being-  cast  away 
in  a  storm,  the  Governor  was  obliged  to  return  to  Plymouth  on 
foot,  fifty  miles  through  the  woods.  According  to  Mourt's  Re- 
lation, "  he  came  safely  home,  though  wearj^  and  surbated," 
that  is,  foot-sore.  (Ital.  sobattere,  Lat.  sub  or  solea  battere,  to 
bruise  the  soles  of  the  feet;  v.  Die.    Not  "  from  acerbatus,  em.' 


THE  PLAINS   OF  NAUSET  43 

town  [of  Eastham]  voted  that  every  housekeeper 
should  kill  twelve  blackbirds,  or  three  crows, 
which  did  great  damage  to  the  corn,  and  this 
vote  was  repeated  for  many  years."  In  1695 
an  additional  order  was  passed,  namely,  that 
"  every  unmarried  man  in  the  township  shall  kill 
six  blackbirds,  or  three  crows,  while  he  remains 
single;  as  a  penalty  for  not  doing  it,  shall  not 
be  married  until  he  obey  this  order."  The 
blackbirds,  however,  still  molest  the  corn.  I 
saw  them  at  it  the  next  summer,  and  there  were 
many  scarecrows,  if  not  scare-blackbirds,  in  the 
fields,  which  I  often  mistook  for  men.  From 
which  I  concluded,  that  either  many  men  were 
not  married,  or  many  blackbirds  were.  Yet 
they  put  but  three  or  four  kernels  in  a  hill,  and 
let  fewer  plants  remain  than  we  do.  In  the  ac- 
count of  Eastham,  in  the  "Historical  Collec- 
tions," printed  in  1802,  it  is  said,  that  "more 
corn  is  produced  than  the  Inhabitants  consume, 
and  about  a  thousand  bushels  are  annually  sent 
to  market.  The  soil  being  free  from  stones,  a 
plough  passes  through  it  speedily ;  and  after  the 
corn  has  come  up,  a  small  Cape  horse,  somewhat 

bittered  or  aggrieved,"  as  one  commentator  on  this  passage 
supposes.)  This  word  is  of  very  rare  occurrence,  being  ap^jlied 
only  to  governors  and  persons  of  like  description,  who  are  in 
that  predicament ;  though  such  generally  have  considerable 
mileage  allowed  them,  and  might  save  their  soles  if  they 
cared. 


44  CAPE   COD 

larger  than  a  goat,  will,  with  the  assistance  of 
two  boys,  easily  hoe  three  or  four  acres  in  a 
day;  several  farmers  are  accustomed  to  produce 
five  hundred  bushels  of  grain  annually,  and  not 
long  since  one  raised  eight  hundred  bushels  on 
sixty  acres."  Similar  accounts  are  given  to- 
day; indeed,  the  recent  accounts  are  in  some 
instances  suspectable  repetitions  of  the  old,  and 
I  have  no  doubt  that  their  statements  are  as 
often  founded  on  the  excej^tion  as  the  rule,  and 
that  by  far  the  greater  number  of  acres  are  as 
barren  as  they  appear  to  be.  It  is  sufficiently 
remarkable  that  any  croj^s  can  be  raised  here, 
and  it  may  be  owing,  as  others  have  suggested, 
to  the  amount  of  moisture  in  the  atmosphere, 
the  warmth  of  the  sand,  and  the  rareness  of 
frosts.  A  miller,  who  was  sharpening  his 
stones,  told  me  that,  forty  years  ago,  he  had 
been  to  a  husking  here,  where  five  hundred 
bushels  were  husked  in  one  evening,  and  the 
corn  was  piled  six  feet  high  or  more,  in  the 
midst,  but  now,  fifteen  or  eighteen  bushels  to 
an  acre  were  an  average  yield.  I  never  saw 
fields  of  such  puny  and  unpromising-looking 
corn,  as  in  this  town.  Probably  the  inhabi- 
tants are  contented  with  small  crops  from  a 
great  surface  easily  cultivated.  It  is  not  always 
the  most  fertile  land  that  is  the  most  profitable, 
and  this  sand  may  repay  cultivation,  as  well  as 


THE  PLAINS   OF  NAUSET  45 

the  fertile  bottoms  of  the  West.  It  is  said, 
moreover,  that  the  vegetables  raised  in  the  sand, 
without  manure,  are  remarkably  sweet,  the 
pumpkins  especially,  though  when  their  seed  is 
planted  in  the  interior  they  soon  degenerate.  I 
can  testify  that  the  vegetables  here,  when  they 
succeed  at  all,  look  remarkably  green  and 
healthy,  though  perhaps  it  is  partly  by  contrast 
with  the  sand.  Yet  the  inhabitants  of  the  Cape 
towns,  generally,  do  not  raise  their  own  meal 
or  pork.  Their  gardens  are  commonly  little 
patches,  that  have  been  redeemed  from  the 
edges  of  the  marshes  and  swamps. 

All  the  morning  we  had  heard  the  sea  roar 
on  the  eastern  shore,  which  was  several  miles 
distant;  for  it  still  felt  the  effects  of  the  storm 
in  which  the  St.  John  was  wrecked,  —  though  a 
school-boy,  whom  we  overtook,  hardly  knew 
what  we  meant,  his  ears  were  so  used  to  it.  He 
would  have  moi-e  plainly  heard  the  same  sound 
in  a  shell.  It  was  a  very  inspiriting  sound  to 
walk  by,  filling  the  whole  air,  that  of  the  sea 
dashing  against  the  land,  heard  several  miles 
inland.  Instead  of  having  a  dog  to  growl  be- 
fore your  door,  to  have  an  Atlantic  Ocean  to 
growl  for  a  whole  Cape!  On  the  whole,  we 
were  glad  of  the  storm,  which  would  show  us 
the  ocean  in  its  angriest  mood.  Charles  Darwin 
was  assured  that  the  roar  of  the  surf  on  the 


46  CAPE   COD 

coast  of  Chiloe,  after  a  heavy  gale,  could  be 
heard  at  night  a  distance  of  "21  sea  miles 
across  a  hilly  and  wooded  country."  We  con- 
versed with  the  boy  we  have  mentioned,  who 
might  have  been  eight  years  old,  making  him 
walk  the  while  under  the  lee  of  our  umbrella; 
for  we  thought  it  as  important  to  know  what 
was  life  on  the  Cape  to  a  boy  as  to  a  man. 
We  learned  from  him  where  the  best  grapes 
were  to  be  found  in  that  neighborhood.  He 
was  carrying  his  dinner  in  a  pail;  and,  without 
any  impertinent  questions  being  put  by  us,  it 
did  at  length  appear  of  what  it  consisted.  The 
homeliest  facts  are  always  the  most  acceptable  to 
an  inquiring  mind.  At  length,  before  we  got 
to  Eastham  meeting-house,  we  left  the  road  and 
struck  across  the  country  for  the  eastern  shore 
at  Nauset  Lights,  —  three  lights  close  together, 
two  or  three  miles  distant  from  us.  They  were 
so  many  that  they  might  be  distinguished  from 
others;  but  this  seemed  a  shiftless  and  costly 
way  of  accomplishing  that  object.  We  found 
ourselves  at  once  on  an  apparently  boundless 
plain,  without  a  tree  or  a  fence,  or,  with  one  or 
two  exceptions,  a  house  in  sight.  Instead  of 
fences,  the  earth  was  sometimes  thrown  up  into 
a  slight  ridge.  My  companion  compared  it  to 
the  rolling  prairies  of  Illinois.  In  the  storm  of 
wind  and  rain  which  rasfed  when  we  traversed 


THE  PLAINS   OF  NAUSET  47 

it,  it  no  doubt  appeared  more  vast  and  desolate 
than  it  really  is.  As  there  were  no  hills,  but 
only  here  and  there  a  dry  hollow  in  the  midst 
of  the  waste,  and  the  distant  horizon  was  con- 
cealed by  mist,  we  did  not  know  whether  it  was 
high  or  low.  A  solitary  traveler,  whom  we  saw 
perambulating  in  the  distance,  loomed  like  a 
giant.  He  appeared  to  walk  slouchingly,  as  i£ 
held  up  from  above  by  straps  under  his  shoul- 
ders, as  much  as  supported  by  the  plain  below. 
Men  and  boys  would  have  appeared  alike  at  a 
little  distance,  there  being  no  object  by  which 
to  measure  them.  Indeed,  to  an  inlander,  the 
Cape  landscape  is  a  constant  mirage.  This 
kind  of  country  extended  a  mile  or  two  each 
way.  These  were  the  "Plains  of  Nauset,"  once 
covered  with  wood,  where  in  winter  the  winds 
howl  and  the  snow  blows  right  merrily  in  the 
face  of  the  traveler.  I  was  glad  to  have  got  out 
of  the  towns,  where  I  am  wont  to  feel  unspeak- 
ably mean  and  disgraced,  —  to  have  left  behind 
me  for  a  season  the  bar-rooms  of  Massachusetts, 
where  the  full-grown  are  not  weaned  from  sav- 
age and  filthy  habits,  —  still  sucking  a  cigar. 
My  spirits  rose  in  proportion  to  the  outward 
dreariness.  The  towns  need  to  be  ventilated. 
The  gods  would  be  pleased  to  see  some  pure 
flames  from  their  altars.  They  are  not  to  be 
appeased  with  cigar-smoke. 


48  CAPE   COD 

As  we  thus  skirted  the  hack-side  of  the 
towns,  for  we  did  not  enter  any  vilhige,  till  we 
got  to  Provincetown,  we  read  their  histories  un- 
der our  umbrellas,  rarely  meeting  anybody. 
The  old  accounts  are  the  richest  in  topography, 
'which  was  what  we  wanted  most ;  and,  indeed, 
in  most  things  else,  for  I  find  that  the  readable 
parts  of  the  modern  accounts  of  these  towns  con- 
sist, in  a  great  measure,  of  quotations,  acknow- 
ledged and  unacknowledged,  from  the  older 
ones,  without  any  additional  information  of 
equal  interest ;  —  town  histories,  which  at  length 
run  into  a  history  of  the  Church  of  that  place, 
that  being  the  only  story  they  have  to  tell,  and 
conclude  by  quoting  the  Latin  epitaphs  of  the 
old  pastors,  having  been  written  in  the  good 
old  days  of  Latin  and  of  Greek.  They  will  go 
back  to  the  ordination  of  every  minister,  and 
tell  you  faithfidly  who  made  the  introductory 
prayer,  and  who  delivered  the  sermon;  who 
made  the  ordaining  prayer,  and  who  gave  the 
charge ;  who  extended  the  right  hand  of  fellow- 
ship, and  who  pronounced  the  benediction ;  also 
how  many  ecclesiastical  councils  convened  from 
time  to  time  to  inquire  into  the  orthodoxy  of 
some  minister,  and  the  names  of  all  who  com- 
posed them.  As  it  will  take  us  an  hour  to  get 
over  this  plain,  and  there  is  no  variety  in  the 
prospect,  peculiar  as  it  is,  I  will  read  a  little  in 
the  history  of  Eastham  the  while. 


THE  PLAINS   OF  NAUSET  49 

When  the  committee  from  Plymouth  had  pur- 
chased the  territory  of  Eastham  of  the  Indians, 
"it  was  demanded,  who  hiid  claim  to  Billings- 
gate?" which  was  understood  to  be  all  that  part 
of  the  Cape  north  of  what  they  had  purchased. 
"The  answer  was,  there  was  not  any  who  owned 
it.  'Then,'  said  the  committee,  'that  land  is 
ours.'  The  Indians  answered,  that  it  was." 
This  was  a  remarkable  assertion  and  admission. 
The  Pilgrims  appear  to  have  regarded  them- 
selves as  Not  Any's  representatives.  Perhaps 
this  was  the  first  instance  of  that  quiet  way  of 
"speaking  for"  a  place  not  yet  occupied,  or  at 
least  not  improved  as  much  as  it  may  be,  which 
their  descendants  have  practiced,  and  are  still 
practicing  so  extensively.  Not  Any  seems  to 
have  been  the  sole  proprietor  of  all  America  be- 
fore the  Yankees.  But  history  says,  that  when 
the  Pilgrims  had  held  the  lands  of  Billingsgate 
many  years,  at  length,  "appeared  an  Indian, 
who  styled  himself  Lieutenant  Anthony,"  who 
laid  claim  to  them,  and  of  him  they  bought 
them.  Who  knows  but  a  Lieutenant  Anthony 
may  be  knocking  at  the  door  of  the  White 
House  some  day?  At  any  rate,  I  know  that  if 
you  hold  a  thing  unjustly,  there  will  surely  be 
the  devil  to  pay  at  last. 

Thomas  Prince,  who  was  several  times  the 
governor    of   the    Plymouth    colony,    was    the 


50  CAPE  COD 

leader  of  the  settlement  of  Eastham.  There 
was  recently  standing,  on  what  was  once  his 
farm,  in  this  town,  a  pear-tree  which  is  said  to 
have  been  bronght  from  England,  and  planted 
there  by  him,  abont  two  hnndred  years  ago.  It 
was  blown  down  a  few  months  before  we  were 
there.  A  late  account  says  that  it  was  recently 
in  a  vigorous  state ;  the  fruit  small,  but  excel- 
lent; and  it  yielded  on  an  average  fifteen  bush- 
els. Some  appropriate  lines  have  been  ad- 
dressed to  it,  by  a  Mr.  Heman  Doane,  from 
which  I  will  quote,  partly  because  they  are  the 
only  specimen  of  Cape  Cod  verse  which  I  re- 
memb.er  to  have  seen,  and  partly  because  they 
are  not  bad. 

"  Two  hundred  years  have,  on  the  wings  of  Time, 

Passed  with  their  joys  and  woes,  since  thou,  Old  Tree ! 
Put  forth  thy  first  leaves  in  this  foreign  clime, 
Transplanted  from  the  soil  beyond  the  sea." 

******** 

[These  stars  represent  the  more  clerical  lines, 
and  also  those  which  have  deceased.] 

"  That  exiled  hand  long  since  have  passed  away. 
And  still,  old  Tree !   thou  standest  in  the  place 
Where  Prince's  hand  did  plant  thee  in  his  day,  — 

An  undesigned  memorial  of  his  race 
And  time  ;  of  those  our  honored  fathers,  when 

They  came  from  Plymouth  o'er  and  settled  here ; 
Doane,  Higgins,  Snow,  and  other  worthy  men. 
Whose  names  their  sons  remember  to  revere. 
******** 


THE  PLAINS   OF  NAUSET  51 

"  Old  Time  has  thinned  thy  boughs,  Old  Pilgrim  Tree ! 
And  bowed  thee  with  the  weight  of  many  years ; 
Yet,  'mid  the  frosts  of  age,  thy  bloom  we  see, 
And  yearly  still  thy  mellow  fruit  appears." 

There  are  some  other  lines  which  I  might 
quote,  if  they  were  not  tied  to  unworthy  com- 
panions, by  the  rhyme.  When  one  ox  will  lie 
clown,  the  yoke  bears  hard  on  him  that  stands 
up. 

One  of  the  first  settlers  of  Eastham  was  Dea- 
con John  Doane,  who  died  in  1707,  aged  one 
hundred  and  ten.  Tradition  says  that  he  was 
rocked  in  a  cradle  several  of  his  last  years. 
That,  certainly,  was  not  an  Achillean  life.  His 
mother  must  have  let  him  slip  when  she  dipped 
him  into  the  liquor  which  was  to  make  him  in- 
vulnerable, and  he  went  in,  heels  and  all.  Some 
of  the  stone-bounds  to  his  farm,  which  he  set  up, 
are  standing  to-day,  with  his  initials  cut  in 
them. 

The  ecclesiastical  history  of  this  town  inter- 
ested us  somewhat.  It  appears  that  "they  very 
early  built  a  small  meeting-house,  twenty  feet 
square,  with  a  thatched  roof  through  which  they 
might  fire  their  muskets," — of  course,  at  the 
Devil.  "In  1662,  the  town  agreed  that  a  part 
of  every  whale  cast  on  shore  be  appropriated  foi 
the  support  of  the  ministry."  No  doubt  there 
seemed  to  be  some  propriety  in  thus  leaving  the 


52  CAPE   COD 

support  of  the  ministers  to  Providence,  whose 
servants  they  are,  and  who  alone  rules  the 
storms ;  for,  when  few  whales  were  cast  up,  they 
might  suspect  that  their  worship  was  not  accept- 
able. The  ministers  must  have  sat  upon  the 
cliffs  in  every  storm,  and  watched  the  shore 
with  anxiety.  And,  for  my  part,  if  I  were  a 
minister,  I  would  rather  trust  to  the  bowels  of 
the  billows,  on  the  back-side  of  Cape  Cod,  to 
cast  uj)  a  whale  for  me,  than  to  the  generosity 
of  many  a  country  parish  that  I  know.  You 
cannot  say  of  a  country  minister's  salary,  com- 
monly, that  it  is  "very  like  a  whale."  Never- 
theless, the  minister  who  depended  on  whales 
cast  up  must  have  had  a  trying  time  of  it.  I 
would  rather  have  gone  to  the  Falkland  Isles  with 
a  harpoon,  and  done  with  it.  Think  of  a  whale 
having  the  breath  of  life  beaten  out  of  him  by 
a  storm,  and  dragging  in  over  the  bars  and 
guzzles,  for  the  support  of  the  ministry  I  What 
a  consolation  it  must  have  been  to  him !  I  have 
heard  of  a  minister,  who  had  been  a  fisherman, 
being  settled  in  Bridgewater  for  as  long  a  time 
as  he  could  tell  a  cod  from  a  haddock.  Gener- 
ous as  it  seems,  this  condition  would  empty  most 
country  pulj^its  forthwith,  for  it  is  long  since 
the  fishers  of  men  were  fishermen.  Also,  a  duty 
was  put  on  mackerel  here  to  support  a  free- 
school;  in  other  words,  the  mackerel-school  was 


THE  PLAINS   OF  NAUSET  53 

taxed  in  order  that  the  children's  school  might 
be  free.  "In  1665  the  Court  passed  a  law  to 
inflict  corporal  punishment  on  all  persons,  who 
resided  in  the  towns  of  this  government,  who 
denied  the  Scriptures."  Think  of  a  man  being 
whipped  on  a  spring  morning,  till  he  was  con- 
strained to  confess  that  the  Scriptures  were  true ! 
"It  was  also  voted  by  the  town,  that  all  persons 
who  should  stand  out  of  the  meeting-house  dur- 
ing the  time  of  divine  service  should  be  set  in 
the  stocks."  It  behooved  such  a  town  to  see 
that  sitting  in  the  meeting-house  was  nothing 
akin  to  sitting  in  the  stocks,  lest  the  penalty  of 
obedience  to  the  law  might  be  greater  than  that 
of  disobedience.  This  was  the  Eastham  famous 
of  late  years  for  its  camp-meetings,  held  in  a 
grove  near  by,  to  which  thousands  flock  from  all 
parts  of  the  Bay.  We  conjectured  that  the 
reason  for  the  perhaps  unusual,  if  not  unhealth- 
ful  development  of  the  religious  sentiment  here, 
was  the  fact  that  a  large  portion  of  the  popula- 
tion are  women  whose  husbands  and  sons  are 
either  abroad  on  the  sea,  or  else  drowned,  and 
there  is  nobody  but  they  and  the  ministers  left 
behind.  The  old  account  says  that  "hysteric 
fits  are  very  common  in  Orleans,  Eastham,  and 
the  towns  below,  particularly  on  Sunday,  in  the 
times  of  divine  service.  When  one  woman  is 
affected,  five  or  six  others  generally  sympathize 


64  CAPE   COD 

with  her ;  and  the  congregation  is  thrown  into 
the  utmost  confusion.  Several  old  men  suppose, 
unphilosophically  and  uncharitably,  perhaps, 
that  the  will  is  partly  concerned,  and  that  ridi- 
cule and  threats  would  have  a  tendency  to  pre- 
vent the  evil."  How  this  is  now  we  did  not 
learn.  We  saw  one  singularly  masculine  woman, 
however,  in  a  house  on  this  very  plain,  who  did 
not  look  as  if  she  was  ever  troubled  with  hyster- 
ics, or  sympathized  with  those  that  were;  or, 
perchance,  life  itself  was  to  her  a  hysteric  fit,  — 
a  Nauset  woman,  of  a  hardness  and  coarseness 
such  as  no  man  ever  possesses  or  suggests.  It 
was  enough  to  see  the  vertebrae  and  sinews  of 
her  neck,  and  her  set  jaws  of  iron,  which  would 
have  bitten  a  board-nail  in  two  in  their  ordinary 
action,  —  braced  against  the  world,  talking  like 
a  man-of-war's-man  in  petticoats,  or  as  if  shout- 
ing to  you  through  a  breaker;  who  looked  as  if 
it  made  her  head  ache  to  live ;  hard  enough  for 
any  enornlit}^  I  looked  upon  her  as  one  who 
had  committed  infanticide;  who  never  had  a 
brother,  unless  it  were  some  wee  thing  that  died 
in  infancy,  —  for  what  need  of  him  ?  —  and 
whose  father  must  have  died  before  she  was 
born.  This  woman  told  us  that  the  camp-meet- 
ings were  not  held  the  previous  summer  for  fear 
of  introducing  the  cholera,  and  that  they  would 
have  been  held  earlier  this  summer,  but  the  rye 


THE  PLAINS   OF  NAUSET  55 

was  so  backward  that  straw  would  not  have  been 
ready  for  them ;  for  they  lie  in  straw.  There 
are  sometimes  one  hundred  and  fifty  ministers, 
( !)  and  five  thousand  hearers,  assembled.  The 
ground,  which  is  called  Millennium  Grove,  is 
owned  by  a  company  in  Boston,  and  is  the  most 
suitable,  bv  rather  unsuitable,  for  this  purpose 
of  any  that  I  saw  on  the  Cape.  It  is  fenced, 
and  the  frames  of  the  tents  are,  at  all  times,  to 
be  seen  interspersed  among  the  oaks.  They 
have  an  oven  and  a  pump,  and  keep  all  their 
kitchen  utensils  and  tent  coverings  and  furni- 
ture in  a  permanent  building  on  the  spot. 
They  select  a  time  for  their  meetings,  when  the 
moon  is  full.  A  man  is  appointed  to  clear  out 
the  pump  a  week  beforehand,  while  the  ministers 
are  clearing  their  throats;  but,  probably,  the 
latter  do  not  always  deliver  as  pure  a  stream  as 
the  former.  I  saw  the  heaps  of  clam-shells  left 
under  the  tables,  where  they  had  feasted  in  pre- 
vious summers,  and  supposed,  of  course,  that 
that  was  the  work  of  the  unconverted,  or  the 
backsliders  and  scoffers.  It  looked  as  if  a 
camp-meeting  must  be  a  singular  combination 
of  a  prayer-meeting  and  a  picnic. 

The  first  minister  settled  here  was  the  Kev. 
Samuel  Treat,  in  1672,  a  gentleman  who  is  said 
to  "be  entitled  to  a  distinguished  rank  among 
the   evangelists   of   New   England."     He   con- 


56  CAPE   COD 

verted  many  Indians,  as  well  as  white  men,  in 
his  day,  and  translated  the  Confession  of  Faith 
into  the  Nauset  language.  These  were  the  In- 
dians concerning  whom  their  first  teacher, 
Richard  Bourne,  wrote  to  Gookin,  in  1674,  that 
he  had  been  to  see  one  who  was  sick,  "and  there 
came  from  him  very  savory  and  heavenly  expres- 
sions," but,  with  regard  to  the  mass  of  them, 
he  says,  "the  truth  is,  that  many  of  them  are 
very  loose  in  their  course,  to  my  heart-breaking- 
sorrow."  Mr.  Treat  is  described  as  a  Calvinist 
of  the  strictest  kind,  not  one  of  those  who,  by 
giving  up  or  exj)laining  away,  become  like  a 
porcupine  disarmed  of  its  quills,  but  a  consistent 
Calvinist,  who  can  dart  his  quills  to  a  distance 
and  courageously  defend  himself.  There  exists 
a  volume  of  his  sermons  in  manuscript  "which," 
says  a  commentator,  "ai3pear  to  have  been  de- 
signed for  publication."  I  quote  the  following 
sentences  at  second  hand,  from  a  Discourse  on 
Luke  xvi.  23,  addressed  to  sinners:  — 

"Thou  must  erelong  go  to  the  bottomless  pit. 
Hell  hath  enlarged  herself,  and  is  ready  to  re- 
ceive thee.  There  is  room  enough  for  thy  en- 
tertainment.   .   .   . 

"  Consider,  thou  art  going  to  a  place  prepared 
by  God  on  pui-j^ose  to  exalt  his  justice  in,  —  a 
place  made  for  no  other  employment  but  tor- 
ments.    Hell  is  God's  house  of  correction:  and. 


THE  PLAINS   OF  NAUSET  57 

remember,  God  doth  all  things  like  himself. 
When  God  would  show  his  justice  and  what  is 
the  weight  of  his  wrath,  he  makes  a  hell  where 
it  shall,  indeed,  appear  to  purpose.  .  .  .  Woe 
to  thy  soul  when  thou  shalt  be  set  up  as  a  butt 
for  the  arrows  of  the  Almighty.   .   .   . 

"Consider,  God  himself  shall  be  the  principal 
agent  in  thy  misery,  —  his  breath  is  the  bellows 
which  blows  up  the  flame  of  hell  forever;  — and 
if  he  punish  thee,  if  he  meet  thee  in  his  fury, 
he  will  not  meet  thee  as  a  man;  he  will  give 
thee  an  omnipotent  blow." 

"  Some  think  sinning  ends  with  this  life ;  but 
it  is  a  mistake.  The  creature  is  held  under  an 
everlasting  law;  the  damned  increase  in  sin  in 
hell.  Possibly,  the  mention  of  this  may  please 
thee.  But,  remember,  there  shall  be  no  pleas- 
ant sins  there;  no  eating,  drinking,  singing, 
dancing,  wanton  dalliance,  and  drinking  stolen 
waters;  but  damned  sins,  bitter,  hellish  sins; 
sins  exasperated  by  torments,  cursing  God, 
spite,  rage,  and  blasphemy.  —  The  guilt  of  all 
thy  sins  shall  be  laid  upon  thy  soul,  and  be 
made  so  many  heaps  of  fuel.   .   .   . 

"Sinner,  I  beseech  thee,  realize  the  truth  of 
these  things.  Do  not  go  about  to  dream  that 
this  is  derogatory  to  God's  mercy,  and  nothing 
but  a  vain  fable  to  scare  children  out  of  their 
wits  withal.     God  can  be  merciful,  though  he 


68  CAPE   COD 

make  tliee  miserable.  He  shall  have  monu- 
ments enough  of  that  precious  attribute,  shining 
like  stars  in  the  place  of  glory,  and  singing 
eternal  hallelujahs  to  the  praise  of  Him  that  re- 
deemed them,  though,  to  exalt  the  power  of  his 
justice,  he  damn  sinners  heaps  upon  heaps." 

"But,"  continues  the  same  writer,  "with  the 
advantage  of  proclaiming  the  doctrine  of  terror, 
which  is  naturally  productive  of  a  sublime  and 
impressive  style  of  eloquence  ('Triumphat  ven- 
toso  gloriae  curru  orator,  qui  pectus  angit,  ir- 
ritat,  et  implet  terroribus.'  Vid.  Burnet,  De 
Stat.  Mort.,  p.  309),  he  could  not  attain  the 
character  of  a  popular  preacher.  His  voice 
was  so  loud,  that  it  could  be  heard  at  a  great 
distance  from  the  meeting-house,  even  amidst 
the  shrieks  of  hysterical  women,  and  the  winds 
that  howled  over  the  plains  of  Nauset;  but 
there  was  no  more  music  in  it  than  in  the  dis- 
cordant sounds  with  which  it  was  mingled." 

"The  effect  of  such  preaching,"  it  is  said, 
"was  that  his  hearers  were  several  times,  in  the 
course  of  his  ministry,  awakened  and  alarmed ; 
and  on  one  occasion  a  comparatively  innocent 
young  man  was  frightened  nearly  out  of  his 
wits,  and  Mr.  Treat  had  to  exert  himself  to 
make  hell  seem  somewhat  cooler  to  him ; "  yet 
we  are  assured  that  "Treat's  manners  w^re 
cheerful,  his  conversation  pleasant,  and  some- 


THE  PLAINS   OF  NAUSET  59 

times  facetious,  but  always  decent.  He  was 
fond  of  a  stroke  of  humor,  and  a  practical  joke, 
and  manifested  his  relish  for  them  by  long  and 
loud  fits  of  laughter." 

This  was  the  man  of  whom  a  well-known 
anecdote  is  told,  which  doubtless  many  of  my 
readers  have  heard,  but  which,  nevertheless,  I 
will  venture  to  quote :  — 

"  After  his  marriage  with  the  daughter  of  Mr. 
Willard  (pastor  of  the  South  Church  in  Boston), 
he  was  sometimes  invited  by  that  gentleman  to 
preach  in  his  pulpit.  Mr.  Willard  possessed  a 
graceful  delivery,  a  masculine  and  harmonious 
voice ;  and,  though  he  did  not  gain  much  repu- 
tation by  his  'Body  of  Divinity,'  which  is  fre- 
quently sneered  at,  particularly  by  those  who 
have  read  it,  yet  in  his  sermons  are  strength  of 
thought  and  energy  of  language.  The  natural 
consequence  was  that  he  was  generally  admired. 
Mr.  Treat  having  preached  one  of  his  best  dis- 
courses to  the  congregation  of  his  father-in- 
law,  in  his  usual  unhappy  manner,  excited  uni- 
versal disgust;  and  several  nice  judges  waited 
on  Mr.  Willard,  and  begged  that  Mr.  Treat, 
who  was  a  worthy,  pious  man,  it  was  true,  but 
a  wretched  preacher,  might  never  be  invited  into 
his  pulpit  again.  To  this  request  Mr.  Willard 
made  no  reply ;  but  he  desired  his  son-in-law  to 
lend  him  the  discourse;  which,  being  left  with 


60  CAPE   COD 

him,  he  delivered  it  without  alteration  to  his 
people  a  few  weeks  after.  They  ran  to  Mr. 
AVillard  and  requested  a  copy  for  the  press. 
'See  the  difference,'  they  cried,  'between  your- 
self and  your  son-in-law;  you  have  preached  a 
sermon  on  the  same  text  as  Mr.  Treat's,  but 
whilst  his  was  contemptible,  yours  is  excellent. ' 
As  is  observed  in  a  note,  'Mr.  Willard,  after 
producing  the  sermon  in  the  handwriting  of  Mr. 
Treat,  might  have  addressed  these  sage  critics 
in  the  words  of  Phaedrus,  — 

'En  hie  declarat,  quales  sitis  judices.'  "  ^ 

Mr.  Treat  died  of  a  stroke  of  the  palsy,  just 
after  the  memorable  storm  known  as  the  Great 
Snow,  which  left  the  ground  around  his  house 
entirely  bare,  but  heaped  up  the  snow  in  the 
road  to  an  uncommon  height.  Through  this  an 
arched  way  was  dug,  by  which  the  Indians  bore 
his  body  to  the  grave. 

The  reader  will  imagine  us,  all  the  while, 
steadily  traversing  that  extensive  plain  in  a  di- 
rection a  little  north  of  east  toward  Nauset 
Beach,  and  reading  under  our  umbrellas  as  we 
sailed,  while  it  blowed  hard  with  mingled  mist 
and  rain,  as  if  we  were  approaching  a  fit  anni- 
versary of  Mr.  Treat's  funeral.  We  fancied 
that  it  was  such  a  moor  as  that  on  which  some- 

1  Lib.  V.  Fab.  5. 


THE  PLAINS   OF  NAUSET  61 

body  perished  in  the  snow,  as  is  related  in  the 
"Lights  and  Shadows  of  Scottish  Life." 

The  next  minister  settled  here  was  the  "Rev. 
Samuel  Osborn,  who  was  born  in  Ireland,  and 
educated  at  the  University  of  Dublin."  He  is 
said  to  have  been  "a  man  of  wisdom  and  vir- 
tue," and  taught  his  people  the  use  of  peat,  and 
the  art  of  drying  and  preparing  it,  which  as 
they  had  scarcely  any  other  fuel,  was  a  great 
blessing  to  them.  He  also  introduced  improve- 
ments in  agriculture.  But,  notwithstanding  his 
many  services,  as  he  embraced  the  religion  of 
Arminius,  some  of  his  flock  became  dissatisfied. 
At  length,  an  ecclesiastical  council,  consisting 
of  ten  ministers,  with  their  churches,  sat  upon 
him,  and  they,  naturally  enough,  spoiled  his 
usefulness.  The  council  convened  at  the  desire 
of  two  divine  philosophers,  Joseph  Doane  and 
Nathaniel  Freeman. 

In  their  report  they  say,  "It  appears  to  the 
council  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Osborn  hath,  in  his 
preaching  to  this  people,  said,  that  what  Christ 
did  and  suffered  doth  nothing  abate  or  diminish 
our  obligation  to  obey  the  law  of  God,  and  that 
Christ's  suffering  and  obedience  were  for  him- 
self; both  parts  of  which,  we  think,  contain 
dangerous  error." 

"Also:  'It  hath  been  said,  and  doth  appear 
to  this  council,  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Osborn,  both 


62  CAPE   COD 

in  public  and  in  private,  asserted  that  there  are 
no  promises  in  the  Bible  but  what  are  condi- 
tional, which  we  think,  also,  to  be  an  error,  and 
do  say  that  there  are  promises  which  are  abso- 
lute and  without  any  condition,  —  such  as  the 
promise  of  a  new  heart,  and  that  he  will  write 
his  law  in  our  hearts.'  " 

"Also,  they  say,  'it  hath  been  alleged,  and 
doth  appear  to  us,  that  Mr.  Osborn  hath  de- 
clared, that  obedience  is  a  considerable  cause  of 
a  person's  justification,  which,  we  think,  con- 
tains very  dangerous  error.'" 

And  many  the  like  distinctions  they  made, 
such  as  some  of  my  readers,  probably,  are  more 
familiar  with  than  I  am.  So,  far  in  the  East, 
among  the  Yezidis,  or  Worshijjers  of  the  Devil, 
so-called,  the  Chaldaeans,  and  others,  accord- 
ing to  the  testimony  of  travelers,  you  may  still 
hear  these  remarkable  disputations  on  doctri- 
nal points  going  on.  Osborn  was,  accordingly,' 
dismissed,  and  he  removed  to  Boston,  where  he 
kept  school  for  many  years.  But  he  was  fully 
justified,  methinks,  by  his  works  in  the  peat 
meadow;  one  proof  of  which  is,  that  he  lived 
to  be  between  ninety  and  one  hundred  j^ears  old. 

The  next  minister  was  the  Rev.  Benjamin 
Webb,  of  whom,  though  a  neighboring  clergy- 
man pronounced  him  "the  best  man  and  the 
best  minister  whom  he  ever  knew,"  yet  the  his- 
torian says,  that,  — 


THE  PLAINS   OF  NAUSET  63 

"As  he  spent  his  days  in  the  uniform  dis- 
charge of  his  duty  (it  reminds  one  of  a  country 
muster)  and  there  were  no  shades  to  give  relief 
to  his  character,  not  much  can  be  said  of  him. 
(Pity  the  Devil  did  not  plant  a  few  shade-trees 
along  his  avenues.)  His  heart  was  as  pure  as 
the  new-fallen  snow  which  completely  covers 
every  dark  spot  in  a  field ;  his  mind  was  as  se- 
rene as  the  sky  in  a  mild  evening  in  June,  when 
the  moon  shines  without  a  cloud.  Name  any 
virtue,  and  that  virtue  he  practiced;  name  any 
vice,  and  that  vice  he  shvmned.  But  if  peculiar 
qualities  marked  his  character,  they  were  his 
humility,  his  gentleness,  and  his  love  of  God. 
The  people  had  long  been  taught  by  a  son  of 
thunder  (Mr.  Treat);  in  him  they  were  in- 
structed by  a  son  of  consolation,  who  sweetly 
allured  them  to  virtue  by  soft  persuasion,  and 
by  exhibiting  the  mercy  of  the  Supreme  Being; 
for  his  thoughts  were  so  much  in  heaven,  that 
they  seldom  descended  to  the  dismal  regions  be- 
low; and  though  of  the  same  religious  senti- 
ments as  Mr.  Treat,  yet  his  attention  was  turned 
to  those  glad  tidings  of  great  joy  which  a  Sav- 
iour came  to  publish." 

We  were  interested  to  hear  that  such  a  man 
had  trodden  the  plains  of  Nauset. 

Turning  over  further  in  our  book,  our  eyes 
fell  on  the  name  of  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Bascom 
of  Orleans:  "Senex  emunctae  naris,  doetus,  et 


64  CAPE   COD 

auctor  elegantium  verborum,  facetus,  et  dulcis 
festique  sermonis."  And,  again,  on  that  of  the 
Rev.  Nathan  Stone,  of  Dennis:  "Vir  humilis, 
mitis,  blandus,  advenarura  hospes;  (thei-e  was 
need  of  him  there ;)  suis  commodis  in  terra  non 
studens,  reconditis  thesauris  in  coelo."  An  easy- 
virtue  that,  there,  for  methinks  no  inhabitant  of 
Dennis  could  be  very  studious  about  his  earthly 
commodity,  but  must  regard  the  bulk  of  his 
treasures  as  in  heaven.  But  probably  the  most 
just  and  pertinent  character  of  all  is  that  which 
appears  to  be  given  to  the  Rev.  Ephraim 
Briggs,  of  Chatham,  in  the  language  of  the  later 
Romans,  '''' Seip,  sepoese,  sej^oemese^  wechelcum^''^ 
—  which  not  being  interpreted,  we  know  not 
what  it  means,  though  we  have  no  doubt  it  oc- 
curs somewhere  in  the  Scriptures,  probably  in 
the  Apostle  Eliot's  Epistle  to  the  Nipmucks. 

Let  no  one  think  that  I  do  not  love  the  old 
ministers.  They  were,  probably,  the  best  men 
of  their  generation,  and  they  deserve  that  their 
biographies  should  fill  the  pages  of  the  town 
histories.  If  I  could  but  hear  the  "glad  tid- 
ings "  of  which  they  tell,  and  which,  perchance, 
they  heard,  I  might  write  in  a  worthier  strain 
than  this. 

There  was  no  better  way  to  make  the  reader 
realize  how  wide  and  peculiar  that  plain  was,  and 
how  long  it  took  to  traverse  it,  than  by  inserting 
these  extracts  in  the  midst  of  my  narrative. 


IV 

THE   BEACH 

At  length  we  reached  the  seemingly  retreat- 
ing boundary  of  the  plain,  and  entered  what  had 
apj)eared  at  a  distance  an  upland  marsh,  tut 
proved  to  be  dry  sand  covered  with  beach-grass, 
the  bearberry,  bayberry,  shrub-oaks,  and  beach- 
plum,  slightly  ascending  as  we  approached  the 
shore;  then,  crossing  over  a  belt  of  sand  on 
which  nothing  grew,  though  the  roar  of  the  sea 
hounded  scarcely  louder  than  before,  and  we 
were  prepared  to  go  half  a  mile  farther,  we  sud- 
denly stood  on  the  edge  of  a  bluff  overlooking 
the  Atlantic.  Far  below  us  was  the  beach, 
from  half  a  dozen  to  a  dozen  rods  in  width,  with 
a  long  line  of  breakers  rushing  to  the  strand. 
The  sea  was  exceedingly  dark  and  stormy,  the 
sky  completely  overcast,  the  clouds  still  drop- 
ping rain,  and  the  wind  seemed  to  blow  not  so 
much  as  the  exciting  cause,  as  from  sympathy 
with  the  already  agitated  ocean.  The  waves 
broke  on  the  bars  at  some  distance  from  the 
shore,  and  curving  green  or  yellow  as  if  over  so 
many  unseen  dams,  ten  or  twelve  feet  high,  like 


66  CAPE   COD 

a  thousand  waterfalls,  rolled  in  foam  to  the 
sand.  There  was  nothing  but  that  savage  ocean 
between  us  and  Europe. 

Having  got  down  the  bank,  and  as  close  to 
^he  water  as  we  could,  where  the  sand  was  the 
f'lardest,  leaving  the  Nauset  Lights  behind  us, 
we  began  to  walk  leisurely  up  the  beach,  in 
a  northwest  direction,  toward  Provincetown, 
w^hich  was  about  twenty-five  miles  distant,  still 
sailing  under  our  umbrellas  with  a  strong  aft 
wind,  admiring  in  silence,  as  we  walked,  the 
great  force  of  the  ocean  stream,  — 

7roTo/zo?o  fjifya  aBivos  TiKeavoTo. 

The  white  breakers  were  rushing  to  the  shore; 
the  foam  ran  up  the  sand,  and  then  ran  back  as 
far  as  we  could  see  (and  we  imagined  how  much 
farther  along  the  Atlantic  coast,  before  and  be- 
hind us),  as  regularly,  to  compare  great  things 
with  small,  as  the  master  of  a  choir  beats  time 
with  his  white  wand;  and  ever  and  anon  a 
higher  wave  caused  us  hastily  to  deviate  from 
our  path,  and  we  looked  back  on  our  tracks 
filled  with  water  and  foam.  The  breakers 
looked  like  droves  of  a  thousand  wild  horses  of 
Neptune,  rushing  to  the  shore,  with  their  white 
manes  streaming  far  behind;  and  when,  at 
length,  the  sun  shone  for  a  moment,  their  manes 
were  rainbow  -  tinted.      Also,    the  long  kelp- 


THE  BEACH  67 

weed  was  tossed  up  from  time  to  time,  like  the 
tails  of  sea-cows  sporting  in  the  brine. 

There  was  not  a  sail  in  sight,  and  we  saw 
none  that  day,  —  for  they  had  all  sought  har- 
bors in  the  late  storm,  and  had  not  been  able  to 
get  out  again ;  and  the  only  human  beings  whom 
we  saw  on  the  beach  for  several  days  were  one 
or  two  wreckers  looking  for  drift-wood,  and 
fragments  of  wrecked  vessels.  After  an  easterly 
storm  in  the  spring,  this  beach  is  sometimes 
strewn  with  eastern  wood  from  one  end  to  the 
other,  which,  as  it  belongs  to  him  who  saves  it, 
and  the  Cape  is  nearly  destitute  of  wood,  is  a 
godsend  to  the  inhabitants.  We  soon  met  one 
of  these  wreckers,  —  a  regular  Cape  Cod  man, 
with  whom  we  parleyed,  with  a  bleached  and 
weather-beaten  face,  within  whose  wrinkles  I 
distinguished  no  particular  feature.  It  was  like 
an  old  sail  endowed  with  life,  —  a  hanging-cliff 
of  weather-beaten  flesh,  —  like  one  of  the  clay 
boulders  which  occurred  in  that  sand-bank. 
He  had  on  a  hat  which  had  seen  salt  water,  and 
a  coat  of  many  pieces  and  colors,  though  it  was 
mainly  the  color  of  the  beach,  as  if  it  had  been 
sanded.  His  variegated  back  —  for  his  coat 
had  many  patches,  even  between  the  shoulders 
—  was  a  rich  study  to  us  when  we  had  passed 
him  and  looked  round.  It  might  have  been  dis- 
honorable for  him  to  have  so  many  scars  behind, 


68  CAPE   COD 

it  is  true,  if  he  had  not  had  many  more  and 
more  serious  ones  in  front.  He  looked  as  if  he 
sometimes  saw  a  doughnut,  but  never  descended 
to  comfort;  too  grave  to  laugh,  too  tough  to 
cry ;  as  indifferent  as  a  clam,  —  like  a  sea-clam 
with  hat  on  and  legs,  that  was  out  walking  the 
strand.  He  may  have  been  one  of  the  Pilgrims, 
—  Peregrine  White,  at  least,  —  who  has  kept 
on  the  back  side  of  the  Cape,  and  let  the  cen- 
turies go  by.  He  was  looking  for  wrecks,  old 
logs,  water-logged  and  covered  with  barnacles, 
or  bits  of  boards  and  joists,  even  chips  which  he 
drew  out  of  the  reach  of  the  tide,  and  stacked 
up  to  dry.  When  the  log  was  too  large  to  carry 
far,  he  cut  it  up  where  the  last  wave  had  left  it, 
or  rolling  it  a  few  feet,  appropriated  it  by  stick- 
ing two  sticks  into  the  ground  crosswise  above 
it.  Some  rotten  trunk,  which  in  Maine  cum- 
bers the  ground,  and  is,  perchance,  thrown  into 
the  water  on  purpose,  is  here  thus  carefully 
picked  up,  split  and  dried,  and  husbanded.  Be- 
fore winter  the  wrecker  painfully  carries  these 
things  up  the  bank  on  his  shoulders  by  a  long 
diagonal  slanting  path  made  with  a  hoe  in  the 
sand,  if  there  is  no  hollow  at  hand.  You  may 
see  his  hooked  pike-staff  always  lying  on  the 
bank,  ready  for  use.  He  is  the  true  monarch 
of  the  beach,  whose  "  right  there  is  none  to  dis- 
pute," and  he  is  as  much  identified  with  it  as  a 
beach-bird. 


THE  BEACH  69 

Crantz,  In  his  account  of  Greenland,  quotes 
Dalagen's  relation  of  the  ways  and  usages  of 
the  Greenlanders,  and  says,  "Whoever  finds 
drift-wood,  or  the  spoils  of  a  shipwreck  on  the 
strand,  enjoys  it  as  his  own,  though  he  does  not 
live  there.  But  he  must  haul  it  ashore  and  lay 
a  stone  upon  it,  as  a  token  that  some  one  has 
taken  possession  of  it,  and  this  stone  is  the  deed 
of  security,  for  no  other  Greenlander  will  offer 
to  meddle  with  it  afterwards."  Such  is  the  in- 
stinctive law  of  nations.  We  have  also  this  ac- 
count of  drift-wood  in  Crantz:  "As  he  (the 
Founder  of  Nature)  has  denied  this  frigid  rocky 
region  the  growth  of  trees,  he  has  bid  the 
streams  of  the  Ocean  to  convey  to  its  shores  a 
great  deal  of  wood,  which  accordingly  comes 
floating  thither,  part  without  ice,  but  the  most 
part  along  with  it,  and  lodges  itself  between  the 
islands.  Were  it  not  for  this,  we  Europeans 
should  have  no  wood  to  burn  there,  and  the  poor 
Greenlanders  (who,  it  is  true,  do  not  use  wood, 
but  train,  for  burning)  would,  however,  have  no 
wood  to  roof  their  houses,  to  erect  their  tents, 
as  also  to  build  their  boats,  and  to  shaft  their 
arrows,  (yet  there  grew  some  small  but  crooked 
alders,  etc.,)  by  which  they  must  procure  their 
maintenance,  clothing  and  train  for  warmth, 
light,  and  cooking.  Among  this  wood  are  great 
trees  torn  up  by  the  roots,  which,  by  driving  up 


70  CAPE   COD 

and  down  for  many  years  and  rubbing  on  the 
ice,  are  quite  bare  of  branches  and  bark,  and 
corroded  with  great  wood-worms.  A  small  part 
of  this  drift-wood  are  willows,  alder  and  birch 
trees,  which  come  out  of  the  bays  in  the  south 
(i.  e. ,  of  Greenland) ;  also  large  trunks  of  asi^en- 
trees,  which  must  come  from  a  gi'eater  distance ; 
but  the  greatest  part  is  pine  and  fir.  We  find 
also  a  good  deal  of  a  sort  of  wood  finely  veined, 
with  few  branches;  this  I  fancy  is  larch-wood, 
which  likes  to  decorate  the  sides  of  lofty,  stony 
mountains.  There  is  also  a  solid,  reddish  wood, 
of  a  more  agreeable  fragrance  than  the  common 
fir,  with  visible  cross-veins;  which  I  take  to  be 
the  same  species"  as  the  beautiful  silver-firs,  or 
zirhel,  that  have  the  smell  of  cedar,  and  grow  on 
the  high  Grison  hills,  and  the  Switzers  wain- 
scot their  rooms  with  them."  The  wrecker  di- 
rected us  to  a  slight  depression,  called  Snow's 
Hollow,  by  which  we  ascended  the  bank,  —  for 
elsewhere,  if  not  difficult,  it  was  inconvenient  to 
climb  it  on  account  of  the  sliding  sand  which 
filled  our  shoes. 

This  sand-bank  —  the  backbone  of  the  Cape 
—  rose  directly  from  the  beach  to  the  height  of 
a  hundred  feet  or  more  above  the  ocean.  It 
was  with  singular  emotions  that  we  first  stood 
upon  it  and  discovered  what  a  place  we  had 
chosen  to  walk  on.     On  our  right,  beneath  us, 


THE  BEACH  71 

was  the  beach  of  smooth  and  gently-sloping 
sand,  a  dozen  rods  in  width;  next,  the  endless 
series  of  white  breakers ;  further  still,  the  light 
green  water  over  the  bar,  which  runs  the  whole 
length  of  the  fore-arm  of  the  Cape,  and  beyond 
this  stretched  the  unwearied  and  illimitable 
ocean.  On  our  left,  extending  back  from  the 
very  edge  of  the  bank,  was  a  perfect  desert  of 
shining  sand,  from  thirty  to  eighty  rods  in 
width,  skirted  in  the  distance  by  small  sand- 
hills fifteen  or  twenty  feet  high ;  between  which, 
however,  in  some  places,  the  sand  penetrated  as 
much  farther.  Next  commenced  the  region  of 
vegetation,  —  a  succession  of  small  hills  and 
valleys  covered  with  shrubbery,  now  glowing 
with  the  brightest  imaginable  autumnal  tints; 
and  beyond  this  were  seen,  here  and  there,  the 
waters  of  the  bay.  Hei-e,  in  Wellfleet,  this 
pure  sand  plateau,  known  to  sailors  as  the  Table 
Lands  of  Eastham,  on  account  of  its  appearance, 
as  seen  from  the  ocean,  and  because  it  once 
made  a  part  of  that  town,  —  full  fifty  rods  in 
width,  and  in  many  places  much  more,  and 
sometimes  full  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above 
the  ocean,  —  stretched  away  northward  from 
the  southern  boundary  of  the  town,  without  a 
particle  of  vegetation,  —  as  level  almost  as  a 
table,  —  for  two  and  a  half  or  three  miles,  or 
as  far  as  the  eye  could   reach;    slightly  rising 


72  CAPE   COD 

towards  the  ocean,  then  stooping  to  the  beach, 
by  as  steep  a  slope  as  sand  couki  lie  on,  and  as 
regular  as  a  military  engineer  could  desire.  It 
was  like  the  escarped  ramj^art  of  a  stupendous 
fortress,  whose  glacis  was  the  beach,  and  whose 
champaign  the  ocean.  From  its  surface  we 
overlooked  the  greater  part  of  the  Cape.  In 
short,  we  were  traversing  a  desert,  with  the  view 
of  an  autumnal  landscape  of  extraordinary  bril- 
liancy, a  sort  of  Promised  Land,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  ocean  on  the  other.  Yet,  though 
the  prospect  was  so  extensive,  and  the  country 
for  the  most  part  destitute  of  trees,  a  house  was 
rarely  visible,  —  we  never  saw  one  from  the 
beach,  —  and  the  solitude  was  that  of  the  ocean 
and  the  desert  combined.  A  thousand  men  could 
not  have  seriously  interrupted  it,  but  would  have 
been  lost  in  the  vastness  of  the  scenery  as  their 
footsteps  in  the  sand. 

The  whole  coast  is  so  free  from  rocks,  that  we 
saw  but  one  or  two  for  more  than  twenty  miles. 
The  sand  was  soft  like  the  beach,  and  trying  to 
the  eyes,  when  the  sun  shone.  A  few  piles  of 
drift-wood,  which  some  wreckers  had  painfully 
brought  up  the  bank  and  stacked  up  there  to 
dry,  being  the  only  objects  in  the  desert,  looked 
indefinitely  large  and  distant,  even  like  wigwams, 
though,  when  we  stood  near  them,  they  proved 
to  be  insignificant  little  "jags  "  of  wood. 


THE  BEACH  73 

For  sixteen  miles,  commencing  at  the  Nauset 
Lights,  the  bank  hekl  its  height,  though  farther 
north  it  was  not  so  level  as  here,  but  interrupted 
by  slight  hollows,  and  the  patches  of  beach- 
grass  and  bayberry  frequently  crept  into  the 
sand  to  its  edge.  There  are  some  pages  entitled 
"A  Description  of  the  Eastern  Coast  of  the 
County  of  Barnstable,"  printed  in  1802,  point- 
ing out  the  spots  on  which  the  Trustees  of  the 
Humane  Society  have  erected  huts  called  Char- 
ity or  Humane  Houses,  "and  other  places  where 
shipwrecked  seamen  may  look  for  shelter." 
Two  thousand  copies  of  this  were  dispersed, 
that  every  vessel  which  frequented  this  coast 
might  be  provided  with  one.  I  have  read  this 
Shipwrecked  Seaman's  Manual  with  a  melan- 
choly kind  of  interest,  —  for  the  sound  of  the 
surf,  or,  you  might  say,  the  moaning  of  the  sea, 
is  heard  all  through  it,  as  if  its  author  were  the 
sole  survivor  of  a  shipwreck  himself.  Of  this 
part  of  the  coast  he  says:  "This  highland  ap- 
proaches the  ocean  with  steep  and  lofty  banks, 
which  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  climb,  especially 
in  a  storm.  In  violent  tempests,  during  very 
high  tides,  the  sea  breaks  against  the  foot  of 
them,  rendering  it  then  unsafe  to  walk  on  the 
strand  which  lies  between  them  and  the  ocean. 
Should  the  seaman  succeed  in  his  attempt  to 
ascend  them,  he  must  forbear  to  penetrate  into 


74  CAPE   COD 

the  country,  as  houses  are  generally  so  remote 
that  they  would  escape  his  research  during  the 
night;  he  must  pass  on  to  the  valleys  by  which 
the  banks  are  intersected.  These  valleys,  which 
the  inhabitants  call  Hollows,  run  at  right  angles 
with  the  shore,  and  in  the  middle  or  lowest  part 
of  them  a  road  leads  from  the  dwelling-houses 
to  the  sea."  By  the  word  road  must  not  always 
be  understood  a  visible  cart-track. 

There  were  these  two  roads  for  us,  —  an  upper 
and  a  lower  one,  —  the  bank  and  the  beach ; 
both  stretching  twenty -eight  miles  northwest, 
from  Nauset  Harbor  to  Race  Point,  without  a 
single  opening  into  the  beach,  and  with  hardly 
a  serious  interruption  of  the  desert.  If  you 
were  to  ford  the  narrow  and  shallow  inlet  at 
Nauset  Harbor,  where  there  is  not  more  than 
eight  feet  of  water  on  the  bar  at  full  sea,  you 
might  walk  ten  or  twelve  miles  farther,  which 
would  make  a  beach  forty  miles  long,  —  and  the 
bank  and  beach,  on  the  east  side  of  Nantucket, 
are  but  a  continuation  of  these.  I  was  com- 
paratively satisfied.  There  I  had  got  the  Cape 
under  me,  as  much  as  if  I  were  riding  it  bare- 
backed. It  was  not  as  on  the  map,  or  seen  from 
the  stage-coach;  but  there  I  found  it  all  out  of 
doors,  huge  and  real,  Cape  Cod!  as  it  cannot 
be  represented  on  a  map,  color  it  as  you  will ; 
the  thing  itself,    than   which  there    is    nothing 


THE  BEACH  75 

more  like  it,  no  truer  picture  or  account ;  which 
you  cannot  go  farther  and  see.  I  cannot  remem- 
ber what  I  thought  before  that  it  was.  They 
commonly  celebrate  those  beaches  only  which 
have  a  hotel  on  them,  not  those  which  have  a 
humane  house  alone.  But  I  wished  to  see  that 
seashore  where  man's  works  are  wrecks;  to  put 
up  at  the  true  Atlantic  House,  where  the  ocean 
is  land-lord  as  well  as  sea-lord,  and  comes  ashore 
without  a  wharf  for  the  landing;  where  the 
crumbling  land  is  the  only  invalid,  or  at  best  is 
but  dry  land,  and  that  is  all  you  can  say  of  it. 
We  walked  on  quite  at  our  leisure,  now  on  the 
beach,  now  on  the  bank,  — •  sitting  from  time  to 
time  on  some  damp  log,  maple  or  yellow  birch, 
which  had  long  followed  the  seas,  but  had  now 
at  last  settled  on  land;  or  under  the  lee  of  a 
sand-hill,  on  the  bank,  that  we  might  gaze  stead- 
ily on  the  ocean.  The  bank  was  so  steep,  that, 
where  there  was  no  danger  of  its  caving,  we  sat 
on  its  edge  as  on  a  bench.  It  was  difficult  for 
us  landsmen  to  look  out  over  the  ocean  without 
imagining  land  in  the  horizon ;  yet  the  clouds 
appeared  to  hang  low  over  it,  and  rest  on  the 
water  as  they  never  do  on  the  land,  perhaps  on 
account  of  the  great  distance  to  which  we  saw. 
The  sand  was  not  without  advantage,  for, 
though  it  was  "heavy  "  walking  in  it,  it  was  soft 
to  the  feet;  and,   notwithstanding  that  it  had 


76  CAPE   COD 

been  raining  nearly  two  days,  when  it  held  up 
for  half  an  hour,  the  sides  of  the  sand-hills, 
which  were  porous  and  sliding,  afforded  a  dry 
seat.  All  the  aspects  of  this  desert  are  beau- 
tiful, whether  you  behold  it  in  fair  weather  or 
foul,  or  when  the  sun  is  just  breaking  out  after 
a  storm,  and  shining  on  its  moist  surface  in  the 
distance,  it  is  so  white,  and  pure,  and  level, 
and  each  slight  inequality  and  track  is  so  dis- 
tinctly revealed;  and  when  your  eyes  slide  off 
this,  they  fall  on  the  ocean.  In  summer  the 
mackerel  gulls  —  which  here  have  their  nests 
among  the  neighboring  sand-hills  —  pursue  the 
traveler  anxiously,  now  and  then  diving  close  to 
his  head  with  a  squeak,  and  he  may  see  them, 
like  swallows,  chase  some  crow  which  has  been 
feeding  on  the  beach,  almost  across  the  Cape. 

Though  for  some  time  I  have  not  spoken  of 
the  roaring  of  the  breakers,  and  the  ceaseless 
flux  and  reflux  of  the  waves,  yet  they  did  not 
for  a  moment  cease  to  dash  and  roar,  with  such 
a  tumult  that,  if  you  had  been  there,  you  could 
scarcely  have  heard  my  voice  the  while;  and 
they  are  dashing  and  roaring  this  very  moment, 
though  it  may  be  with  less  din  and  violence,  for 
there  the  sea  never  rests.  We  were  wholly  ab- 
sorbed by  this  spectacle  and  tumult,  and  like 
Chr3^ses,  though  in  a  different  mood  from  him, 
we  walked  silent  along  the  shore  of  the  resound- 


THE  BEACH  77 

B^  S'  ciKeaiu  napa  Olva  iroKv(pKoL(r^oio  OoXaffffijs.^ 

I  put  in  a  little  Greek  now  and  then,  partly 
because  it  sounds  so  much  like  the  ocean,  — 
though  I  doubt  if  Homer's  Mediterranean  Sea 
ever  sounded  so  loud  as  this. 

The  attention  of  those  who  frequent  the 
camp-meetings  at  Eastham  is  said  to  be  divided 
between  the  preaching  of  the  Methodists  and 
the  preaching  of  the  billows  on  the  back  side  of 
the  Cape,  for  they  all  stream  over  here  in  the 
course  of  their  stay.  I  trust  that  in  this  case 
the  loudest  voice  carries  it.  With  what  effect 
may  we  suppose  the  ocean  to  say,  "  My  hearers !  " 
to  the  multitude  on  the  bank!  On  that  side 
some  John  N.  Maffit;  on  this,  the  Reverend 
Poluphloisboios  Thalassa. 

There  was  but  little  weed  cast  up  here,  and 
that  kelp  chiefly,  there  being  scarcely  a  rock 
for  rock-weed  to  adhere  to.  Who  has  not  had 
a  vision  from  some  vessel's  deck,  when  he  had 
still  his  land  legs  on,  of  this  great  brown  apron, 
drifting  half  upright,  and  quite  submerged 
through  the  green  water,  clasping  a  stone  or  a 
deep-sea  mussel  in  its  unearthly  fingers?  I 
have  seen  it  carrying  a  stone  half  as  large  as  my 

^  We  have  no  word  in  English  to  express  the  sound  of  many 
•waves  dashing  at  once,  whether  gently  or  violently  iro\v<p\oi(r' 
fioios  to  the  ear,  and,  in  the  ocean's  gentle  moods,  an  avapid/xof 
'y4\aafia  to  the  eye. 


78  CAPE   COD 

head.  "We  sometimes  watched  a  mass  of  this 
cable-like  weed,  as  it  was  tossed  up  on  the  crest 
of  a  breaker,  waiting'  with  interest  to  see  it 
come  in,  as  if  there  was  some  treasure  buoyed 
up  by  it ;  but  we  were  always  surprised  and  dis- 
appointed at  the  insignificance  of  the  mass 
which  had  attracted  us.  As  we  looked  out  over 
the  water,  the  smallest  objects  floating  on  it  ap- 
peared indefinitely  large,  we  were  so  impressed 
by  the  vastness  of  the  ocean,  and  each  one  bore 
so  large  a  proportion  to  the  whole  ocean,  which 
we  saw.  We  were  so  often  disappointed  in  the 
size  of  such  things  as  came  ashore,  the  ridiculous 
bits  of  wood  or  weed,  with  which  the  ocean  la- 
bored, that  we  began  to  doubt  whether  the  At- 
lantic itself  would  bear  a  still  closer  inspection, 
and  would  not  turn  out  to  be  but  a  small  pond, 
if  it  should  come  ashore  to  us.  This  kelp,  oar- 
weed,  tangle,  devil's  apron,  sole-leather,  or  rib- 
bon-weed, —  as  various  species  are  called,  — 
apjoeared  to  us  a  singularly  marine  and  fabulous 
product,  a  fit  invention  for  Neptune  to  adorn  his 
car  with,  or  a  freak  of  Proteus.  All  that  is 
told  of  the  sea  has  a  fabulous  sound  to  an  in- 
habitant of  the  land,  and  all  its  products  have  a 
certain  fabulous  quality,  as  if  they  belonged  to 
another  planet,  from  seaweed  to  a  sailor's  yarn, 
or  a  fish  story.  In  this  element  the  animal  and 
vegetable  kingdoms  meet  and  are  strangely  min- 


THE  BEACH  79 

gletl.  One  species  of  kelp,  according  to  Bory 
St.  Vincent,  has  a  stem  fifteen  hundred  feet 
long,  and  hence  is  the  longest  vegetable  known, 
and  a  brig's  crew  spent  two  days  to  no  purpose 
collecting  the  trunks  of  another  kind  cast  ashore 
on  the  Falkland  Islands,  mistaking  it  for  drift- 
wood.^ This  species  looked  almost  edible;  at 
least,  I  thought  that  if  I  were  starving,  I  would 
try  it.  One  sailor  told  me  that  the  cows  ate  it. 
It  cut  like  cheese ;  for  I  took  the  earliest  oppor- 
tunity to  sit  down  and  deliberately  whittle  up  a 
fathom  or  two  of  it,  that  I  might  become  more 
intimately  acquainted  with  it,  see  how  it  cut, 
and  if  it  were  hollow  all  the  way  through.  The 
blade  looked  like  a  broad  belt,  whose  edges  had 
been  quilled,  or  as  if  stretched  by  hammering, 
and  it  was  also  twisted  spirally.  The  extremity 
was  generally  worn  and  ragged  from  the  lashing 
of  the  waves.  A  piece  of  the  stem  which  I  car- 
ried home  shrunk  to  one  quarter  of  its  size  a 
week  afterward,  and  was  completely  covered 
with  crystals  of  salt  like  frost.  The  reader  will 
excuse  my  greenness,  —  though  it  is  not  sea- 
greenness,  like  his,  perchance,  —  for  I  live  by  a 
river  shore,  where  this  weed  does  not  wash  up. 
When  we  consider  in  what  meadows  it  grew, 
and  how  it  was  raked,  and  in  what  kind  of  hay 
weather  got  in  or  out,  we  may  well  be  curious 
^  See  Harvey  on  Algce. 


80  CAPE   COD 

about  it.     One  who  is  weather-wise  has  given 
the  following-  account  of  the  matter ;  — 

"  When  descends  on  the  Atlantic 
The  gigantic 
Storm-wind  of  the  equinox, 
Landward  in  his  wrath  he  scourges 

The  toiling  surges, 
Laden  with  sea-weed  from  the  rocks. 

"  From  Bermuda's  reefs,  from  edges 

Of  sunken  ledges, 
In  some  far-off  bright  Azore  ; 
From  Bahama  and  the  dashing, 

Silver-flashing 
Surges  of  San  Salvador : 

''  From  the  tumbling  surf  that  buries 

The  Orkneyan  Skerries, 
Answering  the  hoarse  Hebrides ; 
And  from  wrecks  and  ships  and  drifting 

Spars,  uplifting 
On  the  desolate  rainy  seas ; 

"  Ever  drifting,  drifting,  drifting 
On  the  shifting 
Currents  of  the  restless  main." 

But  he  was  not  thinking  of  this  shore,  when  he 
added,  — 

'■  Till,  in  sheltered  coves  and  reaches 
Of  sandy  beaches. 
All  have  found  repose  again. " 

These  weeds  were  the  symbols  of  those  gro- 
tesque and  fabulous  thoughts  which  have  not 
yet  got  into  the  sheltered  coves  of  literature. 


THE  BEACH  81 

"  Ever  driftiiij^,  drifting,  drifting 

On  the  shifting 
Currents  of  the  restless  heart ;  " 
And  not  yet  "  in  books  recorded 

They,  like  hoarded 
Household  words,  no  more  depart." 

The  beach  was  also  strewn  with  beautiful  sea- 
jellies,  which  the  wreckers  called  Sun-squall, 
one  of  the  lowest  forms  of  animal  life,  some 
white,  some  wine-colored,  and  a  foot  in  diameter. 
I  at  first  thought  that  they  were  a  tender  part 
of  some  marine  monster,  which  the  storm  or 
some  other  foe  had  mangled.  What  right  has 
the  sea  to  bear  in  its  bosom  such  tender  things 
as  sea-jellies  and  mosses,  when  it  has  such  a 
boisterous  shore,  that  the  stoutest  fabrics  are 
wrecked  against  it?  Strange  that  it  should  un- 
dertake to  dandle  such  delicate  children  in  its 
arm.  I  did  not  at  first  recognize  these  for  the 
same  which  I  had  formerly  seen  in  myriads  in 
Boston  Harbor,  rising,  with  a  waving  motion, 
to  the  surface,  as  if  to  meet  the  sun,  and  dis- 
coloring the  waters  far  and  wide,  so  that  I 
seemed  to  be  sailing  through  a  mere  sun-fish 
soup.  They  say  that  when  you  ende»vor  to  take 
one  up,  it  will  spill  out  the  other  side  of  your 
hand  like  quicksilver.  Before  the  land  rose  out 
of  the  ocean,  and  became  dry  land,  chaos 
reigned ;  and  between  high  and  low  water  mark, 
where  she  is  partially  disrobed  and  rising,  a  sort 


82  CAPE   COD 

of  chaos  reigns  still,  which  only  anomalous 
creatures  can  inhabit.  Mackerel-gulls  were  all 
the  while  flying  over  our  heads  and  amid  the 
breakers,  sometimes  two  white  ones  pursuing  a 
black  one;  quite  at  home  in  the  storm,  though 
they  are  as  delicate  organizations  as  sea-jellies 
and  mosses ;  and  we  saw  that  they  were  adajited 
to  their  circumstances  rather  by  their  spirits 
than  their  bodies.  Theirs  must  be  an  essen- 
tially wilder,  that  is  less  human,  nature,  than 
that  of  larks  and  robins.  Their  note  was  like 
the  sound  of  some  vibrating  metal,  and  harmon- 
ized well  with  the  scenery  and  the  roar  of  the 
surf,  as  if  one  had  rudely  touched  the  strings  of 
the  lyre,  which  ever  lies  on  the  shore ;  a  ragged 
shred  of  ocean  music  tossed  aloft  on  the  spray. 
But  if  I  were  required  to  name  a  sound,  the  re- 
membrance of  which  most  perfectly  revives  the 
impression  which  the  beach  has  made,  it  would 
be  the  dreary  peep  of  the  piping  plover  {Cha- 
radrius  melodus)  which  haunts  there.  Their 
voices,  too,  are  heard  as  a  fugacious  part  in  the 
dirge  which  is  ever  played  along  the  shore  for 
those  mariners  who  have  been  lost  in  the  deep 
since  first  it  was  created.  But  through  all  this 
dreariness  we  seemed  to  have  a  pure  and  un- 
qualified strain  of  eternal  melody,  for  always 
the  same  strain  which  is  a  dirge  to  one  household 
is  a  morning  song  of  rejoicing  to  another. 


THE  BEACH  83 

A  remarkable  method  of  catching  gulls,  de- 
rived from  the  Indians,  was  practiced  in  Well- 
fleet  in  1794.  "The  Gull  House,"  it  is  said, 
"  is  built  with  crotches,  fixed  in  the  ground  on 
the  beach,"  poles  being  stretched  across  for  the 
top,  and  the  sides  made  close  with  stakes  and  sea- 
weed. "  The  poles  on  the  top  [are]  covered  with 
lean  whale.  The  man,  being  placed  within,  is 
not  discovered  by  the  fowls,  and,  while  they  are 
contending  for  and  eating  the  flesh,  he  draws 
them  in,  one  by  one,  between  the  poles,  until  he 
has  collected  forty  or  fifty."  Hence,  perchance, 
a  man  is  said  to  be  gulled,  when  he  is  taken  in. 
We  read  that  one  "sort  of  gulls  is  called  by  the 
Dutch  mallemuche,  i.  e. ,  the  foolish  fly,  because 
they  fall  upon  a  whale  as  eagerly  as  a  fly,  and, 
indeed,  all  gulls  are  foolishly  bold  and  easy  to 
be  shot.  The  Norwegians  call  this  bird  havhesf,, 
sea-horse  (and  the  English  translator  says,  it  is 
probably  what  we  call  boobies).  If  they  have 
eaten  too  much,  they  throw  it  up,  and  eat  it 
again  till  they  are  tired.  It  is  this  habit  in  the 
gulls  of  parting  with  their  property  [disgorging 
the  contents  of  their  stomachs  to  the  skuas], 
which  has  given  rise  to  the  terms  gull,  guller, 
and  gulling,  among  men."  We  also  read  that 
they  used  to  kill  small  birds  which  roosted  on 
the  beach  at  night,  by  making  a  fire  with  hog's 
lard  in  a  frying-pan.     The    Indians   probably 


84  CAPE   COD 

used  pine  torches;  the  birds  flocked  to  the 
light,  and  were  knocked  down  with  a  stick. 
We  noticed  holes  dug  near  the  edge  of  the  bank, 
where  gunners  conceal  themselves  to  shoot  the 
large  gulls  which  coast  up  and  down  a-fishing, 
for  these  are  considered  good  to  eat. 

We  found  some  large  clams,  of  the  species 
31actra  soUdissbna,  which  the  storm  had  torn 
up  from  the  bottom,  and  cast  ashore.  I  selected 
one  of  the  largest,  about  six  inches  in  length, 
and  carried  it  along,  thinking  to  try  an  experi' 
ment  on  it.  We  soon  after  met  a  wrecker, 
with  a  grapple  and  a  rope,  who  said  that  he  was 
looking  for  tow  cloth,  which  had  made  part  of 
the  cargo  of  the  shij)  Franklin,  which  was 
wrecked  here  in  the  spring,  at  which  time  nine 
or  ten  lives  were  lost.  The  reader  may  remem- 
ber this  wreck,  from  the  circumstance  that  a 
letter  was  found  in  the  captain's  valise,  which 
washed  ashore,  directing  him  to  wreck  the  vessel 
before  he  got  to  America,  and  from  the  trial 
which  took  place  in  consequence.  The  wrecker 
said  that  tow  cloth  was  still  cast  up  in  such 
storms  as  this.  He  also  told  us  that  the  clam 
which  I  had  was  the  sea-clam,  or  hen,  and  was 
good  to  eat.  We  took  our  nooning  under  a 
sand-hill,  covered  with  beach-grass,  in  a  dreary 
little  hollow,  on  the  top  of  the  bank,  while  it 
alternately  rained  and  shined.     There,  having 


THE  BEACH  85 

reduced  some  damp  drift-wood,  which  I  had 
picked  up  on  the  shore,  to  shavings  with  my 
knife,  I  kindled  a  fire  with  a  match  and  some 
paper,  and  cooked  my  clam  on  the  embers  for 
my  dinner;  for  breakfast  was  commonly  the 
only  meal  which  I  took  in  a  house  on  this  excur- 
sion. When  the  clam  was  done,  one  valve  held 
the  meat,  and  the  other  the  liquor.  Though  it 
was  very  tough,  I  found  it  sweet  and  savory,  and 
ate  tJie  uihole  with  a  relish.  Indeed,  with  the 
addition  of  a  cracker  or  two,  it  would  have  been 
a  bountiful  dinner.  I  noticed  that  the  shells 
were  such  as  I  had  seen  in  the  svigar-kit  at 
home.  Tied  to  a  stick,  they  formerly  made  the 
Indian's  hoe  hereabouts. 

At  length,  by  mid-afternoon,  after  we  had 
had  two  or  three  rainbows  over  the  sea,  the 
showers  ceased,  and  the  heavens  gradually 
cleared  up,  though  the  wind  still  blowed  as  hard 
and  the  breakers  ran  as  high  as  before.  Keep- 
ing on,  we  soon  after  came  to  a  Charity-house, 
which  we  looked  into  to  see  how  the  shipwrecked 
mariner  might  fare.  Far  away  in  some  desolate 
hollow  by  the  sea-side,  just  within  the  bank, 
stands  a  lonely  building  on  piles  driven  into  the 
sand,  with  a  slight  nail  put  through  the  staple, 
which  a  freezing  man  can  bend,  with  some 
straw,  perchance,  on  the  floor  on  which  he  may 
lie,  or  which  he  may  burn  in  the  fire-place  to 


86  CAPE   COD 

keep  him  alive.  Perhaps  this  hut  has  never 
been  required  to  shelter  a  shipwrecked  man, 
and  the  benevolent  person  who  promised  to  in- 
spect it  annually,  to  see  that  the  straw  and 
matches  are  here,  and  that  the  boards  will  keep 
off  the  wind,  has  grown  remiss  and  thinks  that 
storms  and  shipwrecks  are  over;  and  this  very 
night  a  perishing  crew  may  pry  open  its  door 
with  their  numbed  fingers  and  leave  half  their 
number  dead  here  by  morning.  When  I 
thought  what  must  be  the  condition  of  the  fami- 
lies which  alone  would  ever  occupy  or  had  oc- 
cupied them,  what  must  have  been  the  tragedy 
of  the  winter  evenings  spent  by  human  beings 
around  their  hearths,  these  houses,  though  they 
were  meant  for  human  dwellings,  did  not  look 
cheerful  to  me.  They  appeared  but  a  stage  to 
the  grave.  The  gulls  flew  around  and  screamed 
over  them ;  the  roar  of  the  ocean  in  storms,  and 
the  lapse  of  its  waves  in  calms,  alone  resounds 
through  them,  all  dark  and  empty  within,  year 
in,  year  out,  except,  perchance,  on  one  memor- 
able night.  Houses  of  entertainment  for  ship- 
wrecked men !  What  kind  of  sailor's  homes 
were  they? 

"Each  hut,"  says  the  author  of  the  "Descrip- 
tion of  the  Eastern  Coast  of  the  County  of 
Barnstable,"  "stands  on  piles,  is  eight  feet  long, 
eight  feet  wide,  and  seven  feet  high ;  a  sliding 


THE  BEACH  87 

door  is  on  the  south,  a  sliding  shutter  on  the 
west,  and  a  pole,  rising  fifteen  feet  above  the 
top  of  the  building,  on  the  east.  Within  it  is 
supplied  either  with  straw  or  hay,  and  is  further 
accommodated  with  a  bench."  They  have  va- 
ried little  from  this  model  now.  There  are 
similar  huts  at  the  Isle  of  Sable  and  Anticosti, 
on  the  north,  and  how  far  south  along  the  coast 
I  know  not.  It  is  pathetic  to  read  the  minute 
and  faithful  directions  which  he  gives  to  seamen 
who  may  be  wrecked  on  this  coast,  to  guide 
them  to  the  nearest  Charity -house,  or  other 
shelter,  for,  as  is  said  of  Eastham,  though  there 
are  a  few  houses  within  a  mile  of  the  shore,  yet 
"in  a  snow-storm,  which  rages  here  with  exces- 
sive fuiy,  it  would  be  almost  impossible  to  dis- 
cover them  either  by  night  or  by  day."  You 
hear  their  imaginary  guide  thus  marshalling, 
cheering,  directing  the  dripping,  shivering, 
freezing  troop  along;  "at  the  entrance  of  this 
valley  the  sand  has  gathered,  so  that  at  present 
a  little  climbing  is  necessary.  Passing  over 
several  fences  and  taking  heed  not  to  enter  the 
wood  on  the  right  hand,  at  the  distance  of  three 
quarters  of  a  mile  a  house  is  to  be  found.  This 
house  stands  on  the  south  side  of  the  road,  and 
not  far  from  it  on  the  south  is  Pamet  River, 
which  runs  from  east  to  west  through  a  body  of 
salt  marsh."     To  him  cast  ashore  in  Eastham, 


88  CAPE   COD 

he  says,  "The  meeting-house  is  without  a  steeple, 
but  it  may  be  distinguished  from  the  dwelling- 
houses  near  it  by  its  situation,  which  is  between 
two  small  groves  of  locusts,  one  on  the  south  and 
one  on  the  north,  —  that  on  the  south  being 
three  times  as  long  as  the  other.  About  a  mile 
and  a  quarter  from  the  hut,  west  by  north,  ap- 
pear the  top  and  arms  of  a  windmill."  And  so 
on  for  many  pages. 

We  did  not  learn  whether  these  houses  had 
been  the  means  of  saving  any  lives,  though  this 
writer  says,  of  one  erected  at  the  head  of  Stout's 
Creek,  in  Truro,  that  "it  was  built  in  an  im- 
proper manner,  having  a  chimney  in  it;  and 
was  placed  on  a  spot  where  no  beach-grass  grew. 
The  strong  winds  blew  the  sand  from  its  foun- 
dation, and  the  weight  of  the  chimney  brought 
it  to  the  ground ;  so  that  in  January  of  the  pres- 
ent year  [1802]  it  was  entirely  demolished. 
This  event  took  place  about  six  weeks  before 
the  Brutus  was  cast  away.  If  it  had  remained, 
it  is  probable  that  the  whole  of  the  unfortunate 
crew  of  that  ship  would  have  been  saved,  as 
they  gained  the  shore  a  few  rods  only  from  the 
spot  where  the  hut  had  stood." 

This  "Charity -house,"  as  the  wrecker  called 
it,  this  "Humane  house,"  as  some  call  it,  that 
is,  the  one  to  which  we  first  came,  had  neither 
window  nor  sliding  shutter,  nor  clapboards,  nor 


THE  BEACH  89 

paint.  As  we  have  said,  there  was  a  rusty  nail 
put  through  the  staple.  However,  as  we  wished 
to  get  an  idea  of  a  Humane  house,  and  we 
hoped  that  we  should  never  have  a  better  oppor- 
tunity, we  put  our  eyes,  by  turns,  to  a  knot- 
hole in  the  door,  and,  after  long  looking,  with- 
out seeing,  into  the  dark,  — not  knowing  how 
many  shipwrecked  men's  bones  we  might  see  at 
last,  looking  with  the  eye  of  faith,  knowing 
that,  though  to  him  that  knocketh  it  may  not 
always  be  opened,  yet  to  him  that  looketh  long 
enough  through  a  knot-hole  the  inside  shall  be 
visible,  —  for  we  had  had  some  practice  at  look- 
ing inward,  —  by  steadily  keeping  our  other  ball 
covered  from  the  light  meanwhile,  putting  the 
outward  world  behind  us,  ocean  and  land,  and 
tlie  beach,  —  till  the  pupil  became  enlarged  and 
collected  the  rays  of  light  that  were  wandering 
in  that  dark  (for  the  pupil  shall  be  enlarged  by 
looking ;  there  never  was  so  dark  a  night  but  a 
faithful  and  patient  eye,  however  small,  might 
at  last  prevail  over  it),  —  after  all  this,  I  say, 
things  began  to  take  shape  to  our  vision,  —  if 
we  may  use  this  expression  where  there  was  no- 
thing but  emptiness,  —  and  we  obtained  the 
long-wished-for  insight.  Though  we  thought  at 
first  that  it  was  a  hopeless  case,  after  several 
minutes'  steady  exercise  of  the  divine  faculty, 
our  prospects  began  decidedly  to  brighten,  and 


90  CAPE   COD 

we  were  ready  to  exclaim  with  the  blind  bard  of 
"Paradise  Lost  and  Kegained,"^ — 

'•  Hail,  holy  Light !   offspring  of  Heaven  first  born, 
Or  of  the  Eternal  co-eternal  beam. 
May  I  express  thee  unblamed  ?  " 

A  little  longer,  and  a  chimney  rushed  red  on 
our  sight.  In  short,  when  our  vision  had  grown 
familiar  with  the  darkness,  we  discovered  that 
there  were  some  stones  and  some  loose  wads  of 
wool  on  the  floor,  and  an  empty  fire-place  at  the 
further  end;  but  it  was  not  supplied  with 
matches,  or  straw,  or  hay,  that  we  could  see, 
nor  "accommodated  with  a  bench."  Indeed,  it 
was  the  wreck  of  all  cosmical  beauty  there 
within. 

Turning  our  backs  on  the  outward  world,  we 
thus  looked  through  the  knot-hole  into  the  Hu- 
mane house,  into  the  very  bowels  of  mercy ;  and 
for  bread  we  found  a  stone.  It  was  literally  a 
great  cry  (of  sea-mews  outside),  and  a  little 
wool.  However,  we  were  glad  to  sit  outside, 
under  the  lee  of  the  Humane  house,  to  escape 
the  piercing  wind;  and  there  we  thought  how 
cold  is  charity !  how  inhumane  humanity !  This, 
then,  is  what  charity  hides!  Virtues  antique 
and  far  away,  with  ever  a  rusty  nail  over  the 
latch;  and  very  difficidt  to  keep  in  repair, 
withal,  it  is  so  uncertain  whether  any  will  ever 
gain  the  beach  near  you.     So  we  shivered  round 


THE  BEACH  91 

about,  not  being  able*  to  get  into  it,  ever  and 
anon  looking  through  the  knot-hole  into  that 
night  without  a  star,  until  we  concluded  that  it 
was  not  a  humane  house  at  all,  but  a  seaside 
box,  now  shut  up,  belonging  to  some  of  the 
family  of  Night  or  Chaos,  where  they  spent  their 
summers  by  the  sea,  for  the  sake  of  the  sea- 
breeze,  and  that  it  was  not  proper  for  us  to  be 
prying  into  their  concerns. 

My  companion  had  declared  before  this  that  I 
had  not  a  particle  of  sentiment,  in  rather  abso- 
lute terms,  to  my  astonishment;  but  I  suspect 
he  meant  that  my  legs  did  not  ache  just  then, 
though  I  am  not  wholly  a  stranger  to  that  senti- 
ment. But  I  did  not  intend  this  for  a  senti- 
mental journey. 


THE  WELLFLEET   OYSTERMAN 

HAvmG  walked  about  eight  miles  since  we 
struck  tlie  beach,  and  passed  the  boundary  be- 
tween Wellfleet  and  Truro,  a  stone  post  in  the 
sand,  —  for  even  this  sand  comes  under  the  ju- 
risdiction of  one  town  or  another,  —  we  turned 
inland  over  barren  hills  and  valleys,  whither  the 
sea,  for  some  reason,  did  not  follow  us,  and, 
tracing  up  a  Hollow,  discovered  two  or  three 
sober-looking  houses  within  half  a  mile,  uncom- 
monly near  the  eastern  coast.  Their  garrets 
were  apparently  so  full  of  chambers,  that  their 
roofs  could  hardly  lie  down  straight,  and  we  did 
not  doubt  that  there  was  room  for  us  there. 
Houses  near  the  sea  are  generally  low  and  broad. 
These  were  a  story  and  a  half  high ;  but  if  you 
merely  counted  the  windows  in  their  gable  ends, 
you  would  think  that  there  were  many  stories 
more,  or,  at  any  rate,  that  the  half-story  was  the 
only  one  thought  worthy  of  being  illustrated. 
The  great  number  of  windows  in  the  ends  of  the 
houses,  and  their  irregularity  in  size  and  posi- 
tion, here  and  elsewhere  on  the  Cape,  struck  us 


THE    WELLFLEET  OYSTERMAN        93 

agreeably,  —  as  if  each  of  the  various  occupants 
who  had  their  cunahula  behind  had  punched  a 
hole  where  his  necessities  required  it,  and  ac- 
cording to  his  size  and  stature,  without  regard 
to  outside  effect.  There  were  windows  for  the 
grown  folks,  and  windows  for  the  children,  — 
three  or  four  apiece;  as  a  certain  man  had  a 
large  hole  cut  in  his  barn-door  for  the  cat,  and 
another  smaller  one  for  the  kitten.  Sometimes 
they  were  so  low  under  the  eaves  that  I  thought 
they  must  have  perforated  the  plate  beam  for  an- 
other apartment,  and  I  noticed  some  which  were 
triangular,  to  fit  that  part  more  exactly.  The 
ends  of  the  houses  had  thus  as  many  muzzles  as 
a  revolver,  and,  if  the  inhabitants  have  the  same 
habit  of  staring  out  the  windows  that  some  of 
our  neighbors  have,  a  traveler  must  stand  a 
small  chance  with  them. 

Generally,  the  old-fashioned  and  unpainted 
houses  on  the  Cape  looked  more  comfortable,  as 
well  as  picturesque,  than  the  modern  and  more 
pretending  ones,  which  were  less  in  harmony 
with  the  scenery,  and  less  firmly  planted. 

These  houses  were  on  the  shores  of  a  chain  of 
ponds,  seven  in  number,  the  source  of  a  small 
stream  called  Herring  River,  which  empties 
into  the  Bay.  There  are  many  Herring  Rivers 
on  the  Cape ;  they  will,  perhaps,  be  more  numer- 
ous than  herrings  soon.     We  knccked   at   the 


94  CAPE   COD 

door  of  the  first  house,  but  its  inhabitants  were 
all  gone  away.  In  the  mean  while,  we  saw  the 
occupants  of  the  next  one  looking  out  the  win- 
dow at  us,  and  before  we  reached  it  an  old 
woman  came  out  and  fastened  the  door  of  her 
bidkhead,  and  went  in  again.  Nevertheless, 
we  did  not  hesitate  to  knock  at  her  door,  when  a 
grizzly  -  looking  man  appeared,  whom  we  took 
to  be  sixty  or  seventy  years  old.  He  asked  us, 
at  first,  suspiciously,  where  we  were  from,  and 
what  our  business  was;  to  which  we  returned 
plain  answers. 

"How  far  is  Concord  from  Boston?"  he  in- 
quired. 

"Twenty  miles  by  railroad." 
"Twenty  miles  by  railroad,"  he  repeated. 
"Didn't  you  ever  hear  of  Concord  of  Revo- 
lutionary fame?  " 

"Did  n't  I  ever  hear  of  Concord?  Why,  I 
heard  guns  fire  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill. 
[They  hear  the  sound  of  hea\';y^  cannon  across  the 
Bay.]  I  am  almost  ninety;  I  am  eighty-eight 
year  old.  I  was  fourteen  year  old  at  the  time 
of  Concord  Fight,  —  and  where  were  you 
then?" 

We  were  obliged  to  confess  that  we  were  not 
in  the  fight. 

"Well,  walk  in,  we  '11  leave  it  to  the  women," 
said  he. 


THE    WELLFLEET   OYSTERMAN        95 

So  we  walked  in,  surprised,  and  sat  down,  an 
old  woman  taking  our  hats  and  bundles,  and  the 
old  man  continued,  drawing  up  to  the  large, 
old-fashioned  fire-place,  — 

"I  am  a  poor,  good-for-nothing  crittur,  as 
Isaiah  says ;  I  am  all  broken  down  this  year.  I 
am  under  petticoat  government  here." 

The  family  consisted  of  the  old  man,  his  wife, 
and  his  daughter,  who  appeared  nearly  as  old  as 
her  mother,  a  fool,  her  son  (a  brutish-looking, 
middle-aged  man,  with  a  prominent  lower  face, 
who  was  standing  by  the  hearth  when  we  en- 
tered, but  immediately  went  out),  and  a  little 
boy  of  ten. 

While  my  companion  talked  with  the  women, 
I  talked  with  the  old  man.  They  said  that  he 
was  old  and  foolish,  but  he  was  evidently  too 
knowing  for  them. 

"These  women,"  said  he  to  me,  "are  both  of 
them  poor  good-for-nothing  critturs.  This  one 
is  my  wife.  I  married  her  sixty -four  years  ago. 
She  is  eighty -four  years  old,  and  as  deaf  as  an 
adder,  and  the  other  is  not  much  better." 

He  thought  well  of  the  Bible,  or  at  least  he 
spoke  well,  and  did  not  think  ill,  of  it,  for  that 
would  not  have  been  prudent  for  a  man  of  his 
age.  He  said  that  he  had  read  it  attentively  for 
many  years,  and  he  had  much  of  it  at  his 
tongue's   end.     He   seemed    deeply   impressed 


96  CAPE   COD 

with  a  sense  of  his  own  nothingness,  and  wouUl 
repeatedly  exclaim,  — 

"I  am  a  nothing.  What  I  gather  from  my 
Bible  is  just  this;  that  man  is  a  poor  good-for- 
nothing  crittur,  and  everything  is  just  as  God 
sees  fit  and  disposes." 

"May  I  ask  your  name?"  I  said. 

"Yes,"  he  answered,  "I  am  not  ashamed  to 
tell  my  name.  My  name  is .  My  great- 
grandfather came  over  from  England  and  settled 
here." 

He  was  an  old  Wellfleet  oysterman,  who  had 
acquired  a  competency  in  that  business,  and  had 
sons  still  engaged  in  it. 

Nearly  all  the  oyster  shops  and  stands  in 
Massachusetts,  I  am  told,  are  supplied  and  kept 
by  natives  of  Wellfleet,  and  a  part  of  this  town 
is  still  called  Billingsgate  from  the  oysters  hav- 
ing been  formerly  planted  there ;  but  the  native 
oysters  are  said  to  have  died  in  1770.  Various 
causes  are  assigned  for  this,  such  as  a  ground 
frost,  the  carcasses  of  black-fish,  kept  to  rot  in 
the  harbor,  and  the  like,  but  the  most  common 
account  of  the  matter  is,  —  and  I  find  that  a 
similar  superstition  with  regard  to  the  disap- 
pearance of  fishes  exists  almost  everywhere,  — 
that  when  Wellfleet  began  to  quarrel  with  the 
neighboring  towns  about  the  right  to  gather 
them,    yellow   specks   appeared   in   them,    and 


THE    WELLFLEET   OYSTERMAN        97 

Providence  caused  them  to  disappear.  A  few 
years  ago  sixty  thousand  bushels  were  annually 
brought  from  the  South  and  planted  in  the  har- 
bor of  Wellfleet  till  they  attained  "the  proper 
relish  of  Billingsgate;"  but  now  they  are  im- 
jiorted  commonly  full-grown,  and  laid  down 
near  their  markets,  at  Boston  and  elsewhere, 
where  the  water,  being  a  mixture  of  salt  and 
fresh,  suits  them  better.  The  business  was  said 
to  be  still  good  and  improving. 

The  old  man  said  that  the  oysters  were  liable 
to  freeze  in  the  winter,  if  planted  too  high;  but 
if  it  were  not  "so  cold  as  to  strain  their  eyes" 
they  were  not  injured.  The  inhabitants  of  New 
Brunswick  have  noticed  that  "  ice  will  not  form 
over  an  oyster-bed,  unless  the  cold  is  very  in- 
tense indeed,  and  when  the  bays  are  frozen  over 
the  oyster-beds  are  easily  discovered  by  the 
water  above  them  remaining  unfrozen,  or  as  the 
French  residents  say,  degele.^^  Our  host  said 
that  they  kept  them  in  cellars  all  winter. 

"Without  anything  to  eat  or  drink?"  I 
asked. 

"Without  anything  to  eat  or  drink,"  he  an- 
swered. 

"Can  the  oysters  move?  " 

"Just  as  much  as  my  shoe." 

But  when  I  caught  him  saying  that  they 
"bedded  themselves  down  in  the  sand,  flat  side 


98  CAPE   COD 

lip,  round  side  down,"  I  told  him  that  my  shoe 
coiihl  not  do  that,  without  tlie  aid  of  my  foot  in 
it;  at  which  he  said  that  they  merely  settled 
down  as  they  grew;  if  put  down  in  a  square 
they  would  be  found  so;  but  the  clam  could 
move  quite  fast.  I  have  since  been  told  by 
oystermen  of  Long  Island,  where  the  oyster  is 
still  indigenous  and  abundant,  that  they  are 
found  in  large  masses  attached  to  the  parent  in 
their  midst,  and  are  so  taken  up  with  their 
tongs;  in  which  case  they  say,  the  age  of  the 
young  proves  that  there  coidd  have  been  no  mo- 
tion for  five  or  six  years  at  least.  And  Buck- 
land  in  his  Curiosities  of  Natural  History  (page 
50)  says:  "An  oyster,  who  has  once  taken  up 
his  position  and  fixed  himself  when  quite  young, 
can  never  make  a  change.  Oysters,  neverthe- 
less, that  have  not  fixed  themselves,  but  remain 
loose  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  have  the  power 
of  locomotion;  they  open  their  shells  to  their 
fullest  extent,  and  then  suddenly  contracting 
them,  the  expulsion  of  the  water  forwards  gives 
a  motion  backwards.  A  fisherman  at  Guernsey 
told  me  that  he  had  frequently  seen  oysters  mov- 
ing in  this  way." 

Some  still  entertain  the  question  "whether 
the  oyster  was  indigenous  in  Massachusetts 
Bay,"  and  whether  Wellfleet  harbor  was  a 
"natural  habitat"  of  this  fish;  but,  to  say  no- 


THE    WELLFLEET   OYSTERMAN        99 

thing  of  the  testimony  of  old  oystermen,  which, 
I  think,  is  quite  conclusive,  though  the  native 
oyster  may  now  be  extinct  there,  I  saw  that 
their  shells,  opened  by  the  Indians,  were  strewn 
all  over  the  Cape.  Indeed,  the  Cape  was  at 
first  thickly  settled  by  Indians  on  account  of 
the  abundance  of  these  and  other  fish.  We  saw 
many  traces  of  their  occupancy  after  this,  in 
Truro,  near  Great  Hollow,  and  at  High-Head, 
near  East  Harbor  River,  —  oysters,  clams, 
cockles,  and  other  shells,  mingled  with  ashes 
and  the  bones  of  deer  and  other  quadrupeds.  I 
picked  up  half  a  dozen  arrow-heads,  and  in  an 
hour  or  two  could  have  filled  my  pockets  with 
them.  The  Indians  lived  about  the  edges  of  the 
swamps,  then  probably  in  some  instances  ponds, 
for  shelter  and  water.  Moreover,  Champlain, 
in  the  edition  of  his  "Voyages  "  printed  in  1613, 
says  that  in  the  year  1606  he  and  Poitrincourt 
explored  a  harbor  (Barnstable  Harbor?)  in  the 
southerly  part  of  what  is  now  called  Massachu- 
setts Bay,  in  latitude  42°,  about  five  leagues 
south,  one  point  west  of  Caj)  Blanc  (Cape 
Cod),  and  there  they  found  many  good  oysters, 
and  they  named  it  "Ze  Port  aux  Huistres'''' 
[sic]  (Oyster  Harbor).  In  one  edition  of  his 
map  (1632),  the  "^.  aux  Escailles^''  Is  drawn 
emptying  into  the  same  part  of  the  bay,  and  on 
the  map  '''' Novi  Belgii,^''  in  Ogilby's  America 


100  CAPE   COD 

(1G70),  the  words  "Por<  aiix  IJuistres"  are 
placed  against  the  same  phiee.  Also  William 
Wood,  who  left  New  England  in  1633,  speaks, 
in  his  "New  England's  Prospect,"  published  in 
1634,  of  "a  great  oyster-bank"  in  Charles 
River,  and  of  another  in  the  Mistick,  each  of 
''/hich  obstructed  the  navigation  of  its  river. 
'The  oysters,"  says  he,  "be  great  ones  in  form 
of  a  shoe-horn;  some  be  a  foot  long;  these 
breed  on  certain  banks  that  are  bare  every 
spring  tide.  This  fish  without  the  shell  is  so 
big,  that  it  must  admit  of  a  division  before  you 
can  well  get  it  into  your  mouth."  Oysters  are 
still  found  there. ^ 

Our  host  told  us  that  the  sea-clam,  or  hen, 
was  not  easily  obtained;  it  was  raked  up,  but 
never  on  the  Atlantic  side,  only  cast  ashore 
there  in  small  quantities  in  storms.  The  fisher- 
man sometimes  wades  in  water  several  feet  deep, 
and  thrusts  a  pointed  stick  into  the  sand  before 
him.  When  this  enters  between  the  valves  of  a 
clam,  he  closes  them  on  it,  and  is  drawn  out. 
It  has  been  known  to  catch  and  hold  coot  and 
teal  which  were  preying  on  it.  I  chanced  to  be 
on  the  bank  of  the  Acushnet  at  New  Bedford  one 
day  since  this,  watching  some  ducks,  when  a 
man  informed  me  that,  having  let  out  his  young 
ducks  to  seek  their  food  amid  the  samphire 
1  Also,  see  Thomas  Morton's  New  English  Canaan,  p.  90. 


THE    WELLFLEET  OYSTERMAN     101 

{SaUcomid)  and  other  weeds  along  the  river- 
side at  low  tide  that  morning,  at  length  he  no- 
ticed that  one  remained  stationary,  amid  the 
weeds,  something  preventing  it  from  following 
the  others,  and  going  to  it  he  found  its  foot 
tightly  shut  in  a  quahog's  shell.  He  took  up 
both  together,  carried  them  to  his  home,  and 
his  wife  opening  the  shell  with  a  knife  released 
the  duck  and  cooked  the  quahog.  The  old  man 
said  that  the  great  clams  were  good  to  eat,  but 
that  they  always  took  out  a  certain  part  which 
was  poisonous,  before  they  cooked  them. 
"People  said  it  would  kill  a  cat."  I  did  not 
tell  him  that  I  had  eaten  a  large  one  entire  that 
afternoon,  but  began  to  think  that  I  was  tougher 
than  a  cat.  He  stated  that  pedlers  came  round 
there,  and  sometimes  tried  to  sell  the  women 
folks  a  skimmer,  but  he  told  them  that  their 
women  had  got  a  better  skimmer  than  they 
could  make,  in  the  shell  of  their  clams ;  it  was 
shaped  just  right  for  this  purpose.  —  They  call 
them  "skim-alls  "  in  some  places.  He  also  said 
that  the  sun-squawl  was  poisonous  to  handle, 
and  when  the  sailors  came  across  it,  they  did 
not  meddle  with  it,  but  heaved  it  out  of  their 
way.  I  told  him  that  I  had  handled  it  that 
afternoon,  and  had  felt  no  ill  effects  as  yet. 
But  he  said  it  made  the  hands  itch,  especially  if 
they  had  previously  been  scratched,  or  if  I  put 


102  CAPE   COD 

it  into  my  bosom,  I  should  find  out  what  it 
was. 

He  informed  us  that  no  ice  ever  formed  on 
the  back  side  of  the  Cape,  or  not  more  than 
once  in  a  century,  and  but  little  snow  lay  there, 
it  being  either  absorbed  or  blown  or  washed 
away.  Sometimes  in  winter,  when  the  tide  was 
down,  the  beach  was  frozen,  and  afforded  a  hard 
road  up  the  back  side  for  some  thirty  miles,  as 
smooth  as  a  floor.  One  winter  when  he  was  a 
boy,  he  and  his  fatlier  "took  right  o^t  into  the 
back  side  before  daylight,  and  walked  to  Prov- 
incetown  and  back  to  dinner." 

When  I  asked  what  they  did  with  all  that 
barren-looking  land,  where  I  saw  so  few  culti- 
vated fields,  —  "Nothing,"  he  said. 

"Then  why  fence  your  fields?  " 

"To  keep  the  sand  from  blowing  and  cover- 
ing up  the  whole." 

"The  yellow  sand,"  said  he,  "has  some  life 
in  it,  but  the  white  little  or  none." 

When,  in  answer  to  his  questions,  I  told  him 
that  I  was  a  surveyor,  he  said  that  they  who 
surveyed  his  farm  were  accustomed,  where  the 
ground  was  uneven,  to  loop  up  each  chain  as 
high  as  their  elbows;  that  was  the  allowance 
they  made,  and  he  wished  to  know  if  I  could 
tell  him  why  they  did  not  come  out  according  to 
his  deed,  or  twice  alike.     He  seemed  to  have 


THE    WELLFLEET   OYSTERMAN      103 

more  respect  for  surveyors  of  the  old  school, 
which  I  did  not  wonder  at.  "King  George  the 
Third,"  said  he,  "laid  out  a  road  four  rods  wide 
and  straight  the  whole  length  of  the  Cape,"  but 
where  it  was  now  he  could  not  tell. 

This  story  of  the  surveyors  reminded  me  of  a 
Long-Islander,  who  once,  when  I  had  made 
ready  to  jump  from  the  bow  of  his  boat  to  the 
shore,  and  he  thought  that  I  underrated  the  dis- 
tance and  would  fall  short,  —  though  I  found 
afterwarci  that  he  judged  of  the  elasticity  of  my 
joints  by  his  own,  — told  me  that  when  he  came 
to  a  brook  which  he  wanted  to  get  over,  he  held 
up  one  leg,  and  then,  if  his  foot  appeared  to 
cover  any  part  of  the  opposite  bank,  he  knew 
that  he  could  jump  it.  "Why,"  I  told  him, 
"to  say  nothing  of  the  Mississijipi,  and  other 
small  watery  streams,  I  could  blot  out  a  star 
with  my  foot,  but  I  would  not  engage  to  jump 
that  distance,"  and  asked  how  he  knew  when  he 
had  got  his  leg  at  the  right  elevation.  But  he 
regarded  his  legs  as  no  less  accurate  than  a  pair 
of  screw  dividers  or  an  ordinary  quadrant,  and 
appeared  to  have  a  painful  recollection  of  every 
degree  and  minute  in  the  arc  which  they  de- 
scribed ;  and  he  would  have  had  me  believe  that 
there  was  a  kind  of  hitch  in  his  hip-joint  which 
answered  the  purpose.  I  suggested  that  he 
should  connect  his  two  ankles  by  a  string  of  the 


104  CAPE   COD 

proper  length,  which  should  be  the  chord  of  an 
arc,  measuring  his  jumping  ability  on  horizontal 
surfaces,  —  assuming  one  leg  to  be  a  perpendic- 
ular to  the  plane  of  the  horizon,  which,  how- 
ever, may  have  been  too  bold  an  assumption  in 
this  case.  Nevertheless,  this  was  a  kind  of 
geometry  in  the  legs  which  it  interested  me  to 
hear  of. 

Our  host  took  pleasure  in  telling  us  the  names 
of  the  ponds,  most  of  which  we  could  see  from 
his  windows,  and  making  us  repeat  them  after 
him,  to  see  if  we  had  got  them  right.  They 
were  Gull  Pond,  the  largest  and  a  very  hand- 
some one,  clear  and  deep,  and  more  than  a  mile 
in  circumference,  Newcomb's,  Swett's,  Slough, 
Horse-Leech,  Round,  and  Herring  Ponds,  all 
connected  at  high  water,  if  I  do  not  mistake. 
The  coast-surveyors  had  come  to  him  for  their 
names,  and  he  told  them  of  one  which  they  had 
not  detected.  He  said  that  they  were  not  so 
high  as  formerly.  There  was  an  earthquake 
about  four  years  before  he  was  born,  which 
cracked  the  pans  of  the  ponds,  which  were  of 
iron,  and  caused  them  to  settle.  I  did  not  re- 
member to  have  read  of  this.  Innumerable 
gulls  used  to  resort  to  them ;  but  the  large  gulls 
were  now  very  scarce,  for,  as  he  said,  the  Eng- 
lish robbed  their  nests  far  in  the  north,  where 
they  breed.     He  remembered  well  when  gulls 


THE    WELLFLEET  OYSTERMAN       105 

were  taken  in  the  gull-house,  and  when  small 
birds  were  killed  by  means  of  a  frying-pan  and 
fire  at  night.  His  father  once  lost  a  valuable 
horse  from  this  cause.  A  party  from  Wellfleet 
having  lighted  their  fire  for  this  purpose,  one 
dai-k  night,  on  Billingsgate  Island,  twenty  horses 
which  were  pastured  there,  and  this  colt  among 
them,  being  frightened  by  it,  and  endeavoring 
in  the  dark  to  cross  the  passage  which  separated 
them  from  the  neighboring  beach,  and  which 
was  then  fordable  at  low  tide,  were  all  swept  out 
to  sea  and  drowned.  I  observed  that  many 
horses  were  still  turned  out  to  pasture  all  sum- 
mer on  the  islands  and  beaches  in  Wellfleet, 
Eastham,  and  Orleans,  as  a  kind  of  common. 
He  also  described  the  killing  of  what  he  called 
"wild  hens,"  here,  after  they  had  gone  to  roost 
in  the  woods,  when  he  was  a  boy.  Perhaps  they 
were  "Prairie  hens"  (pinnated  grouse). 

He  liked  the  beach-pea  {Lathyrus  mmitimus)^ 
cooked  green,  as  well  as  the  cultivated.  He 
had  seen  it  growing  very  abundantly  in  New- 
foundland, where  also  the  inhabitants  ate  them, 
but  he  had  never  been  able  to  obtain  any  ripe 
for  seed.  We  read,  under  the  head  of  Chatham, 
that  "in  1555,  during  a  time  of  great  scarcity, 
the  people  about  Orford,  in  Sussex  (England) 
were  preserved  from  perishing  by  eating  the 
seeds  of  this  plant,  which  grew  there  in  great 


106  CAPE   COD 

abundance  on  the  sea-coast.  Cows,  horses, 
sheep,  and  goats  eat  it."  But  the  writer  who 
quoted  this  coukl  not  learn  that  they  had  ever 
been  used  in  Barnstable  County. 

He  had  been  a  voyager,  then?  Oh,  he  had 
been  about  the  world  in  his  day.  He  once  con- 
sidered himself  a  pilot  for  all  our  coast;  but 
now  they  had  changed  the  names  so  he  might  be 
bothered. 

He  gave  us  to  taste  what  he  called  the  Sum- 
mer Sweeting,  a  pleasant  apple  which  he  raised, 
and  frequently  grafted  from,  but  had  never  seen 
growing  elsewhere,  except  once,  —  three  trees 
on  Newfoundland,  or  at  the  Bay  of  Chaleur,  I 
forget  which,  as  he  was  sailing  by.  He  was 
sure  that  he  could  tell  the  tree  at  a  distance. 

At  length  the  fool,  whom  my  companion 
called  the  wizard,  came  in,  muttering  between 
his  teeth,  "  Damn  book-pedlers,  —  all  the  time 
talking  about  books.  Better  do  something. 
Damn  'em.  I  '11  shoot  'em.  Got  a  doctor 
down  here.  Damn  him,  I  '11  get  a  gun  and 
shoot  him;"  never  once  holding  up  his  head. 
Whereat  the  old  man  stood  up  and  said  in  a 
loud  voice,  as  if  he  was  accustomed  to  command, 
and  this  was  not  the  first  time  he  had  been 
obliged  to  exert  his  authority  there:  "John,  go 
sit  down,  mind  your  business, — we've  heard 
you  talk  before,  —  precious  little  you  '11  do,  — • 


THE    WELLFLEET   OYSTERMAN       107 

your  bark  is  worse  than  your  bite."  But,  with- 
out minding,  John  muttered  the  same  gibberish 
over  again,  and  then  sat  down  at  the  table 
which  the  old  folks  had  left.  He  ate  all  there 
was  on  it,  and  then  turned  to  the  apples,  which 
his  aged  mother  was  paring,  that  she  might 
give  her  guests  some  apple-sauce  for  breakfast, 
but  she  drew  them  away  and  sent  him  off. 

When  I  approached  this  house  the  next  sum- 
mer, over  the  desolate  hills  between  it  and  the 
shore,  which  are  worthy  to  have  been  the  birth- 
place of  Ossian,  I  saw  the  wizard  in  the  midst 
of  a  cornfield  on  the  hillside,  hut,  as  usual,  he 
loomed  so  strangely,  that  I  mistook  him  for  a 
scarecrow. 

This  was  the  merriest  old  man  that  we  had 
ever  seen,  and  one  of  the  best  preserved.  His 
style  of  conversation  was  coarse  and  plain 
enough  to  have  suited  Rabelais.  He  would 
have  made  a  good  Panurge.  Or  rather  he  was 
a  sober  Silenus,  and  we  were  the  boys  Chromis 
and  Mnasilus,  who  listened  to  his  story. 

"  Not  by  Hffimonian  hills  the  Thraciari  bard, 
Nor  awful  Phcebus  was  on  Phidus  heard 
With  deeper  silence  or  with  more  regard." 

There  was  a  strange  mingling  of  past  and 
present  in  his  conversation,  for  he  had  lived 
under  King  George,  and  might  have  remem- 
bered when  Napoleon  and  the  moderns  generally 


108  CAPE   COD 

were  born.  He  said  that  one  day,  when  the 
troubles  between  the  Colonies  and  the  mother 
country  first  broke  out,  as  he,  a  boy  of  fifteen, 
was  pitching  hay  out  of  a  cart,  one  Donne,  an 
old  Toi-y,  who  was  talking  with  his  father,  a 
good  Whig,  said  to  him,  "Why,  Uncle  Bill, 
you  might  as  well  undertake  to  pitch  that  pond 
into  the  ocean  with  a  pitchfork,  as  for  the  Col- 
onies to  undertake  to  gain  their  independence." 
He  remembered  well  General  Washington,  and 
how  he  rode  his  horse  along  the  streets  of  Bos- 
ton, and  he  stood  up  to  show  us  how  he  looked. 

"He  was  a  r  —  a  —  ther  large  and  portly- 
looking  man,  a  manly  and  resolute-looking  offi- 
cer, with  a  pretty  good  leg  as  he  sat  on  his 
horse."  —  "There,  I'll  tell  you,  this  was  the 
way  with  Washington."  Then  he  jumped  up 
again,  and  bowed  gracefully  to  right  and  left, 
making  show  as  if  he  were  waving  his  hat. 
Said  he,  "  That  was  Washington." 

He  told  us  many  anecdotes  of  the  Revolution, 
and  was  much  pleased  when  we  told  him  that  we 
had  read  the  same  in  history,  and  that  his  ac- 
count agreed  with  the  written. 

"Oh,"  he  said,  "I  know,  I  know!  I  was  a 
young  fellow  of  sixteen,  with  my  ears  wide 
open;  and  a  fellow  of  that  age,  you  know,  is 
pretty  wide  awake,  and  likes  to  know  everything 
that 's  going  on.     Oh,  I  know!  " 


THE    WELLFLEET   OYSTERMAN       109 

He  told  us  the  story  of  the  wreck  of  the 
Franklin,  which  took  place  there  the  previous 
spring;  how  a  boy  came  to  his  house  early  in 
the  morning  to  know  whose  boat  that  was  by 
the  shore,  for  there  was  a  vessel  in  distress,  and 
he,  being  an  old  man,  first  ate  his  breakfast, 
and  then  walked  over  to  the  top  of  the  hill  by 
the  shore,  and  sat  down  there,  having  found  a 
comfortable  seat,  to  see  the  ship  wrecked.  She 
was  on  the  bar,  only  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from 
him,  and  still  nearer  to  the  men  on  the  beach, 
who  had  got  a  boat  ready,  but  could  render  no 
assistance  on  account  of  the  breakers,  for  there 
was  a  pretty  high  sea  running.  There  were  the 
passengers  all  crowded  together  in  the  forward 
part  of  the  ship,  and  some  were  getting  out  of 
the  cabin  windows  and  were  drawn  on  deck  by 
the  others. 

"I  saw  the  captain  get  out  his  boat," said  he; 
"he  had  one  little  one;  and  then  they  jumped 
into  it  one  after  another,  down  as  straight  as  an 
arrow.  I  counted  them.  There  were  nine. 
One  was  a  woman,  and  she  jumped  as  straight 
as  any  of  them.  Then  they  shoved  off.  The 
sea  took  them  back,  one  wave  went  over  them, 
and  when  they  came  up  there  were  six  still 
clinging  to  the  boat;  I  counted  them.  The 
next  wave  turned  the  boat  bottom  upward,  and 
emptied  them  all  out.     None  of  them  ever  came 


110  CAPE    COD 

ashore  alive.  There  were  the  rest  of  them  all 
crowded  together  on  the  forecastle,  the  other 
parts  of  the  ship  beiug  under  water.  They  had 
seen  all  that  happened  to  the  boat.  At  length  a 
heavy  sea  separated  the  forecastle  from  the  rest 
of  the  wreck,  and  set  it  inside  of  the  worst 
breaker,  and  the  boat  was  able  to  reach  them, 
and  it  saved  all  that  were  left,  but  one  woman." 

He  also  told  us  of  the  steamer  Cambria's  get- 
ting aground  on  this  shore  a  few  months  before 
we  were  there,  and  of  her  English  passengers 
who  roamed  over  his  grounds,  and  who,  he  said, 
thought  the  prospect  from  the  high  hiU  by  the 
shore,  "the  most  delightsome  they  had  ever 
seen,"  and  also  of  the  pranks  which  the  ladies 
played  with  his  scoop-net  in  the  ponds.  He 
spoke  of  these  travelers  with  their  purses  full 
of  guineas,  just  as  our  provincial  fathers  used 
to  speak  of  British  bloods  in  the  time  of  King 
George  the  Third. 

Quid  loquar  f    Why  repeat  what  he  told  us  ? 

"  Awt  Seyllam  Nisi,  quam  fama  secuta  est, 
Candida  succinetam  latrantibus  inguina  monstris, 
Dulichias  vexasse  rates,  et  gurgite  in  alto 
Ah  !  timidos  nautas  canibus  lacerasse  marinis  ?  " 

In  the  course  of  the  evening  I  began  to  feel 
the  potency  of  the  clam  which  I  had  eaten,  and 
I  was  obliged  to  confess  to  our  host  that  I  was 
no  tougher   than  the   cat  he   told  of;    but  he 


THE    WELLFLEET   OYSTERMAN       111 

answered,  that  he  was  a  plain-spoken  man,  and 
he  conkl  tell  me  that  it  was  all  imagination. 
At  any  rate,  it  proved  an  emetic  in  my  case, 
and  I  was  made  qnite  sick  by  it  for  a  short  time, 
while  he  laughed  at  my  expense.  I  was  pleased 
to  read  afterward,  in  Mourt's  Relation  of  the 
landing  of  the  Pilgrims  in  Provincetown  Har- 
bor, these  words:  "We  found  great  muscles 
(the  old  editor  says  that  they  were  undoubtedly 
sea-clams)  and  very  fat  and  full  of  sea-pearl; 
but  we  could  not  eat  them,  for  they  made  us  all 
sick  that  did  eat,  as  well  sailors  as  passengers, 
.  .  .  but  they  were  soon  well  again."  It 
brought  me  nearer  to  the  Pilgrims  to  be  thus 
reminded  by  a  similar  experience  that  I  was  so 
like  them.  Moreover,  it  was  a  valuable  con- 
firmation of  their  story,  and  I  am  prepared  now 
to  believe  every  word  of  Mourt's  Relation.  I 
was  also  pleased  to  find  that  man  and  the  clam 
lay  still  at  the  same  angle  to  one  another.  But 
I  did  not  notice  sea-pearl.  Like  Cleopatra,  I 
must  have  swallowed  it.  I  have  since  dus:  these 
clams  on  a  flat  in  the  Bay  and  observed  them. 
They  could  squirt  full  ten  feet  before  the  wind, 
as  appeared  by  the  marks  of  the  drops  on  the 
sand. 

"Now  I  am  going  to  ask  you  a  question,"  said 
the  old  man,  "and  I  don't  know  as  you  can  tell 
me;  but  you  are  a  learned  man,  and   I  never 


112  CAPE   COD 

had  any  learning,  only  what  I  got  by  natur." 
—  It  was  in  vain  that  we  remincletl  him  that  he 
conld  quote  Joscplms  to  our  confusion.  —  "I  've 
thought,  if  I  ever  met  a  learned  man  I  should 
like  to  ask  him  this  question.  Can  you  tell  me 
how  Axy  is  sj^elt,  and  what  it  means?  ^la'y," 
says  he;  "there  's  a  girl  over  here  is  named 
Axy.  Now  what  is  it?  What  does  it  mean? 
Is  it  Scripture?  I  've  read  my  Bible  twenty -five 
years  over  and  over,  and  I  never  came  across 
it." 

"Did  you  read  it  twenty-five  years  for  this 
object?  "  I  asked. 

"Well,  how  is  it  spelt?  Wife,  how  is  it 
spelt?  " 

She  said,  "It  is  in  the  Bible;  I  've  seen  it." 

"Well,  how  do  you  spell  it?  " 

"I  don't  know.  A  c  h,  ach,  s  e  h,  seh, — 
Achseh." 

"Does  that  spell  Axy?  Well,  do  you  know 
what  it  means?  "  asked  he,  turning  to  me. 

"No,"  I  replied,  "I  never  heard  the  sound 
before." 

"There  was  a  schoolmaster  down  here  once, 
and  they  asked  him  what  it  meant,  and  he  said 
it  had  no  more  meaning  than  a  bean-pole." 

I  told  him  that  I  held  the  same  opinion  with 
the  schoolmaster.  I  had  been  a  schoolmaster 
myself,  and  had  had  strange  names  to  deal  with. 


A 


THE    WELLFLEET   OYSTERMAN       113 

I  also  heard  of  such  names  as  Zoheth,  Beriah, 
Amaziah,  Bethuel,  and  Shearjashub,  here- 
abouts. 

At  length  the  little  boy,  who  had  a  seat  quite 
in  the  chimney-corner,  took  off  his  stockings 
and  shoes,  warmed  his  feet,  and  having  had  his 
sore  leg  freshly  salved,  went  off  to  bed;  then 
the  fool  made  bare  his  knotty -looking  feet  and 
legs,  and  followed  him;  and  finally  the  old  man 
exposed  his  calves  also  to  our  gaze.  We  had 
never  had  the  good  fortune  to  see  an  old  man's 
legs  before,  and  were  surprised  to  find  them 
fair  and  plump  as  an  infant's,  and  we  thought 
that  he  took  a  pride  in  exhibiting  them.  He 
then  proceeded  to  make  preparations  for  retir- 
ing, discoursing  meanwhile  with  Panurgic  plain- 
ness of  speech  on  the  ills  to  which  old  humanity 
is  subject.  We  were  a  rare  haul  for  him.  He 
could  commonly  get  none  but  ministers  to  talk 
to,  though  sometimes  ten  of  them  at  once, 
and  he  was  glad  to  meet  some  of  the  laity  at 
leisure.  The  evening  was  not  long  enough  for 
him.  As  I  had  been  sick,  the  old  lady  asked 
if  I  would  not  go  to  bed,  —  it  was  getting  late 
for  old  people ;  but  the  old  man,  who  had  not 
yet  done  his  stories,  said,  "You  ain't  particular, 
are  you?  " 

"Oh,  no,"  said  I,  "I  am  in  no  hurry.  I  be- 
lieve I  have  weathered  the  Clam  cape." 


114  CAPE   COD 

"They  are  good,"  said  he;  "I  wish  I  had 
some  of  them  now." 

"They  never  hurt  me,"  said  the  old  lady. 

"  But  then  you  took  out  the  part  that  killed  a 
cat,"  said  1. 

At  last  we  cut  him  short  in  the  midst  o£  his 
stories,  which  he  promised  to  resume  in  the 
morning.  Yet,  after  all,  one  of  the  old  ladies 
who  came  into  our  room  in  the  night  to  fasten 
the  fire-board,  which  rattled,  as  she  went  out 
took  the  precaution  to  fasten  us  in.  Old  women 
are  by  nature  more  suspicious  than  old  men. 
However,  the  winds  howled  around  the  house, 
and  made  the  fire-boards  as  well  as  the  case- 
ments rattle  well  that  night.  It  was  probably 
a  windy  night  for  any  locality,  but  we  could 
not  distinguish  the  roar  which  was  proper  to  the 
ocean  from  that  which  was  due  to  the  wind 
alone. 

The  sounds  which  the  ocean  makes  must  be 
very  significant  and  interesting  to  those  who  live 
near  it.  When  I  was  leaving  the  shore  at  this 
place  the  next  summer,  and  had  got  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  distant,  ascending  a  hill,  I  was  startled 
by  a  sudden,  loud  sound  from  the  sea,  as  if  a 
large  steamer  were  letting  off  steam  by  the  shore, 
so  that  I  caught  my  breath  and  felt  my  blood 
run  cold  for  an  instant,  and  I  turned  about,  ex- 
pecting to  see  one  of  the  Atlantic  steamers  thus 


THE    WELL  FLEET   OYSTERMAN       115 

far  out  of  her  course,  but  there  was  nothing  un- 
usual to  be  seen.  There  was  a  low  bank  at  the 
entrance  of  the  Hollow,  between  me  and  the 
ocean,  and  suspecting  that  I  might  have  risen 
into  another  stratum  of  air  in  ascending  the 
hill,  —  which  had  wafted  to  me  only  the  ordi- 
nary roar  of  the  sea,  —  I  immediately  descended 
again,  to  see  if  I  lost  hearing  of  it;  but,  with- 
out regard  to  my  ascending  or  descending,  it 
died  away  in  a  minute  or  two,  and  yet  there  was 
scarcely  any  wind  all  the  while.  The  old  man 
said  that  this  was  what  they  called  the  "rut,"  a 
peculiar  roar  of  the  sea  before  the  wind  changes, 
which,  however,  he  could  not  account  for.  He 
thought  that  he  could  tell  all  about  the  weather 
from  the  sounds  which  the  sea  made. 

Old  Josselyn,  who  came  to  New  England  in 
1638,  has  it  among  his  weather-signs,  that  "the 
resounding  of  the  sea  from  the  shore,  and  mur- 
muring of  the  winds  in  the  woods,  without  ap- 
parent wind,  sheweth  wind  to  follow." 

Being  on  another  part  of  the  coast  one  night 
since  this,  I  heard  the  roar  of  the  surf  a  mile 
distant,  and  the  inhabitants  said  it  was  a  sign 
that  the  wind  would  work  round  east,  and  we 
should  have  rainy  weather.  The  ocean  was 
heaped  up  somewhere  at  the  eastward,  and  this 
roar  was  occasioned  by  its  effort  to  preserve  its 
equilibrium,  the  wave  reaching  the  shore  before 


116  CAPE   COD 

the  wind.  Also  the  captain  of  a  packet  between 
this  country  and  England  told  nie  that  he  some- 
times met  with  a  wave  on  the  Atlantic  coming 
against  the  wind,  perhaps  in  a  calm  sea,  which 
indicated  that  at  a  distance  the  wind  was  blow- 
ing from  an  opposite  quarter,  but  the  undula- 
tion had  traveled  faster  than  it.  Sailors  tell  of 
"tide-rips"  and  "ground-swells,"  which  they 
suppose  to  have  been  occasioned  by  hurricanes 
and  earthquakes,  and  to  have  traveled  many 
hundred,  and  sometimes  even  two  or  three  thou- 
sand miles. 

Before  sunrise  the  next  morning  they  let  us 
out  again,  and  I  ran  over  to  the  beach  to  see  the 
sun  come  out  of  the  ocean.  The  old  woman  of 
eighty-four  winters  was  already  out  in  the  cold 
morning  wind,  bare-headed,  tripping  about  like 
a  young  girl,  and  driving  up  the  cow  to  milk. 
She  got  the  breakfast  with  dispatch,  and  with- 
out noise  or  bustle ;  and  meanwhile  the  old  man 
resumed  his  stories,  standing  before  us,  who  were 
sitting,  with  his  back  to  the  chimney,  and  eject- 
ing his  tobacco-juice  right  and  left  into  the  fire 
behind  him,  without  regard  to  the  various  dishes 
which  were  there  j^reparing.  At  breakfast  we 
had  eels,  buttermilk  cake,  cold  bread,  green 
beans,  doughnuts,  and  tea.  The  old  man  talked 
a  steady  stream ;  and  when  his  wife  told  him  he 
had  better  eat  his  breakfast,  he  said:  "Don't 


THE    WELLFLEET   OYSTERMAN     117 

hurry  me;  I  have  lived  too  long  to  be  hurried." 
I  ate  of  the  apple-sauce  and  the  doughnuts, 
which  I  thought  had  sustained  the  least  detri- 
ment from  the  old  man's  shots,  bvit  my  compan- 
ion refused  the  apple-sauce,  and  ate  of  the  hot 
cake  and  green  beans,  which  had  appeared  to 
him  to  occupy  the  safest  part  of  the  hearth. 
But  on  comparing  notes  afterward,  I  told  him 
that  the  buttermilk  cake  was  particularly  ex- 
posed, and  I  saw  how  it  suffered  repeatedly, 
and  therefore  I  avoided  it ;  but  he  declared  that, 
however  that  might  be,  he  witnessed  that  the 
apple-sauce  was  seriously  injured,  and  had  there- 
fore declined  that.  After  breakfast  we  looked 
at  his  clock,  which  was  out  of  order,  and  oiled 
it  with  some  "hen's  grease,"  for  want  of  sweet 
oil,  for  he  scarcely  could  believe  that  we  were 
not  tinkers  or  pedlers ;  meanwhile,  he  told  a  story 
about  visions,  which  had  reference  to  a  crack  in 
the  clock-case  made  by  frost  one  night.  He  was 
curious  to  know  to  what  religious  sect  we  be- 
longed. He  said  that  he  had  been  to  hear  thir- 
teen kinds  of  preaching  in  one  month,  when  he 
was  young,  but  he  did  not  join  any  of  them,  — 
he  stuck  to  his  Bible.  There  was  nothing  like 
any  of  them  in  his  Bible.  While  I  was  shaving 
in  the  next  room,  I  heard  him  ask  my  compan- 
ion to  what  sect  he  belonged,  to  which  he  an- 
swered, — 


118  C^iPE   COD 

"Oh,  I  belong  to  the  Universal  Brotherhood." 
"What 's  that?  "  he  asked,  "Sons  o'  Temper- 
ance?" 

Finally,  filling  our  pockets  with  doughnuts, 
which  he  was  pleased  to  find  that  we  called  by 
the  same  name  that  he  did,  and  paying  for  our 
entertainment,  we  took  out  departure;  but  he 
followed  us  out  of  doors,  and  made  us  tell  him 
the  names  of  the  vegetables  which  he  had  raised 
from  seeds  that  came  out  of  the  Franklin. 
They  were  cabbage,  broccoli,  and  j^arsley.  As 
I  had  asked  him  the  names  of  so  many  things, 
he  tried  me  in  turn  with  all  the  plants  which 
grew  in  his  garden,  both  wild  and  cultivated. 
It  was  about  half  an  acre,  which  he  cultivated 
wholly  himself.  Besides  the  common  garden 
vegetables,  there  were  yellow-dock,  lemon  balm, 
hyssoj),  Gill  -  go  -  over  -  the  -  ground,  mouse-ear, 
chick-weed,  Roman  wormwood,  elecampane,  and 
other  plants.  As  we  stood  there,  I  saw  a  fish- 
hawk  stoop  to  pick  a  fish  out  of  his  pond. 
"There,"  said  I,  "he  has  got  a  fish." 
"Well,"  said  the  old  man,  who  was  looking 
all  the  while,  but  could  see  nothing,  "he  didn't 
dive,  he  just  wet  his  claws." 

And,  sure  enough,  he  did  not  this  time, 
though  it  is  said  that  they  often  do,  but  he 
merely  stooped  low  enough  to  pick  him  out  with 
his  talons ;  but  as  he  bore  his  shining  prey  over 


THE    WELLFLEET  OYSTERMAN      119 

the  bushes,  it  fell  to  the  ground,  and  we  did  not 
see  that  he  recovered  it.  That  is  not  their  prac- 
tice. 

Thus,  having  had  another  crack  with  the  old 
man,  he  standing  bareheaded  under  the  eaves, 
he  directed  us  "athwart  the  fields,"  and  we  took 
to  the  beach  again  for  another  day,  it  being  now 
late  in  the  morning. 

It  was  but  a  day  or  two  after  this  that  the 
safe  of  the  Provincetown  Bank  was  broken  open 
and  robbed  by  two  men  from  the  interior,  and 
we  learned  that  our  hospitable  entertainers  did 
at  least  transiently  harbor  the  suspicion  that  we 
were  the  men. 


VI 

THE  BEACH   AGAIN 

Our  way  to  the  high  sand-bank,  which  I 
have  described. as  extending  all  along  the  coast, 
led,  as  usual,  through  patches  of  bayberry 
bushes,  which  straggled  into  the  sand.  This, 
next  to  the  shrub-oak,  was  perhaps  the  most 
common  shrub  thereabouts.  I  was  much  at- 
tracted by  its  odoriferous  leaves  and  small  gray 
berries  which  are  clustered  about  the  short 
twigs,  just  below  the  last  year's  growth.  I 
know  of  but  two  bushes  in  Concord,  and  they, 
being  staminate  plants,  do  not  bear  fruit.  The 
berries  gave  it  a  venerable  appearance,  and  they 
smelled  quite  spicy,  like  small  confectionery. 
Kobert  Beverley,  in  his  "History  of  Virginia," 
published  in  1705,  states  that  "at  the  mouth  of 
their  rivers,  and  all  along  upon  the  sea  and  bay, 
and  near  many  of  their  creeks  and  swamps, 
grows  the  myrtle,  bearing  a  berry,  of  which 
they  make  a  hard,  brittle  wax,  of  a  curious  green 
color,  which  by  refining  becomes  almost  trans- 
parent. Of  this  they  make  candles,  which  are 
never  greasy  to  the  touch  nor  melt  with  lying  in 


THE  BEACH  AGAIN  121 

the  hottest  weather;  neither  does  the  snnff  of 
these  ever  offend  the  smell,  like  that  of  a  tallow 
candle;  but,  instead  of  being  disagreeable,  if 
an  accident  puts  a  candle  out,  it  yields  a  pleas- 
ant f ragrancy  to  all  that  are  in  the  room ;  inso- 
much that  nice  people  often  put  them  out  on  pur- 
pose to  have  the  incense  of  the  expiring  snuff. 
The  melting  of  these  berries  is  said  to  have 
been  first  found  out  by  a  surgeon  in  New  Eng- 
land, who  performed  wonderful  things  with  a 
salve  made  of  them."  From  the  abundance  of 
berries  still  hanging  on  the  bushes,  we  judged 
that  the  inhabitants  did  not  generally  collect 
them  for  tallow,  though  we  had  seen  a  piece  in 
the  house  we  had  just  left.  I  have  since  made 
some  tallow  myself.  Holding  a  basket  beneath 
the  bare  twigs  in  April,  I  rubbed  them  together 
between  my  hands  and  thus  gathered  about  a 
quart  in  twenty  minutes,  to  which  were  added 
enough  to  make  three  pints,  and  I  might  have 
gathered  them  much  faster  with  a  suitable  rake 
and  a  large  shallow  basket.  They  have  little 
j)rominences  like  those  of  an  orange  all  creased 
in  tallow,  which  also  fills  the  interstices  down 
to  the  stone.  The  oily  part  rose  to  the  top, 
making  it  look  like  a  savory,  black  broth,  which 
smelled  much  like  balm  or  other  herb  tea.  You 
let  it  cool,  then  skim  off  the  tallow  from  the 
surface,  melt  this  again  and  strain  it.     I   got 


122  CAPE   COD 

about  a  quarter  of  a  pound  weight  from  my  tliree 
pints,  and  more  yet  remained  within  the  berries. 
A  small  portion  cooled  in  the  form  of  small  flat- 
tish  hemispheres,  like  crystallizations,  the  size  of 
a  kernel  of  corn  (nuggets  I  called  them  as  I 
picked  them  out  from  amid  the  berries).  Lou- 
don says,  that  "  cultivated  trees  are  said  to  yield 
more  wax  than  those  that  are  found  wild."  ^  If 
you  get  any  pitch  on  your  hands  in  the  pine- 
woods  you  have  only  to  rub  some  of  these  ber- 
ries between  your  hands  to  start  it  off.  But  the 
ocean  was  the  grand  fact  there,  which  made  us 
forget  both  bayberries  and  men. 

To-day  the  air  was  beautifully  clear,  and  the 
sea  no  longer  dark  and  stormy,  though  the 
waves  still  broke  with  foam  along  the  beach, 
but  sparkling  and  full  of  life.  Already  that 
morning  I  had  seen  the  day  break  over  the  sea 
as  if  it  came  out  of  its  bosom :  — 

"  The  saffron-robed  Dawn  rose  in  haste  from  the  streams 
Of  Ocean,  that  she  might  bring  light  to  immortals  and  to 
mortals." 

The  sun  rose  visibly  at  such  a  distance  over 
the  sea,  that  the  cloud-bank  in  the  horizon, 
which  at  first  concealed  him,  was  not  perceptible 
until  he  had  risen  high  behind  it,  and  plainly 
broke  and  dispersed  it,  like  an  arrow.  But  as 
yet  I  looked  at  him  as  rising  over   land,   and 

^  See  Duplessv,  Vi'gctaux  Besirieux,  vol.  ii.,  p.  60. 


THE  BEACH  AGAIN  123 

could  not,  without  an  effort,  realize  that  he  was 
rising  over  the  sea.  Already  I  saw  some  vessels 
on  the  horizon,  which  had  rounded  the  Cape  in 
the  night,  and  were  now  well  on  their  watery- 
way  to  other  lands. 

We  struck  the  beach  again  in  the  south  part 
of  Truro.  In  the  early  part  of  the  day,  while 
it  was  flood  tide,  and  the  beach  was  narrow  and 
soft,  we  walked  on  the  bank,  which  was  very 
high  here,  but  not  so  level  as  the  day  before, 
being  more  interrupted  by  slight  hollows.  The 
author  of  the  Description  of  the  Eastern  Coast 
says  of  this  part,  that  "the  bank  is  very  high 
and  steep.  From  the  edge  of  it  west,  there  is 
a  strip  of  sand  a  hundred  yards  in  breadth. 
Then  succeeds  low  brushwood,  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  wide,  and  almost  impassable.  After  which 
comes  a  thick  perplexing  forest,  in  which  not  a 
house  is  to  be  discovered.  Seamen,  therefore, 
though  the  distance  between  these  two  hollows 
(Newcomb's  and  Brush  Hollows)  is  great,  must 
not  attempt  to  enter  the  wood,  as  in  a  snow- 
storm they  must  undoubtedly  perish."  This  is 
still  a  true  description  of  the  country,  except 
that  there  is  not  much  high  wood  left. 

There  were  many  vessels,  like  gulls,  skim- 
ming over  the  surface  of  the  sea,  now  half  con- 
cealed in  its  troughs,  their  dolphin -strikers 
ploughing  the  water,  now  tossed  on  the  top  of 


124  CAPE   COD 

the  billows.  One,  a  Larque  standing  down  ])ar- 
alk'l  with  the  coast,  suddenly  furled  her  sails, 
came  to  anchor,  and  swung  round  in  the  wind, 
near  us,  only  half  a  mile  from  the  shore.  At 
first  we  thought  that  her  captain  wished  to  com- 
municate with  us,  and  perhaps  we  did  not  re- 
gard the  signal  of  distress,  which  a  mariner 
would  have  understood,  and  he  cursed  us  for 
cold-hearted  wreckers  who  turned  our  backs  on 
him.  For  hours  we  could  still  see  her  anchored 
there  behind  us,  and  we  wondered  how  she  could 
afPord  to  loiter  so  long  in  her  course.  Or  was 
she  a  smuggler  who  had  chosen  that  wild  beach 
to  land  her  cargo  on?  Or  did  they  wish  to 
catch  fish,  or  paint  their  vessel?  Erelong  other 
barks,  and  brigs,  and  schooners,  which  had  in 
the  meanwhile  doubled  the  Cape,  sailed  by  her 
in  the  smacking  breeze,  and  our  consciences 
were  relieved.  Some  of  these  vessels  lagged 
behind,  while  others  steadily  went  ahead.  We 
narrowly  watched  their  rig  and  the  cut  of  their 
jibs,  and  how  they  walked  the  water,  for  there 
was  all  the  difference  between  them  that  there 
is  between  living  creatures.  But  we  wondered 
that  they  should  be  remembering  Boston  and 
New  York  and  Liverpool,  steering  for  them,  out 
there ;  as  if  the  sailor  might  forget  his  peddling 
business  on  such  a  grand  highway.  They  had 
perchance  brought  oranges  from    the  Western 


THE  BEACH  AGAIN  125 

Isles;  and  were  they  carrying  back  the  peel? 
We  might  as  well  transport  our  old  traps  across 
the  ocean  of  eternity.  Is  that  but  another 
"trading  flood,"  with  its  blessed  isles?  Is 
Heaven  such  a  harbor  as  the  Liverpool  docks? 

Still  held  on  without  a  break  the  inland  bar- 
rens and  shrubbery,  the  desert  and  the  high 
sand-bank  with  its  even  slope,  the  broad  white 
beach,  the  breakers,  the  green  water  on  the  bar, 
and  the  Atlantic  Ocean ;  and  we  traversed  with 
delight  new  reaches  of  the  shore;  we  took  an- 
other lesson  in  sea-horses'  manes  and  sea-cows' 
tails,  in  sea-jellies  and  sea-clams,  with  our  new- 
gained  experience.  The  sea  ran  hardly  less 
than  the  day  before.  It  seemed  with  every 
wave  to  be  subsiding,  because  such  was  our  ex- 
pectation, and  yet  when  hours  had  elapsed  we 
could  see  no  difference.  But  there  it  was,  bal- 
ancing itself,  the  restless  ocean  by  our  side, 
lurching  in  its  gait.  Each  wave  left  the  sand 
all  braided  or  woven,  as  it  were  with  a  coarse 
woof  and  warp,  and  a  distinct  raised  edge  to  its 
rapid  work.  We  made  no  haste,  since  we 
wished  to  see  the  ocean  at  our  leisure,  and  in- 
deed that  soft  sand  was  no  place  in  which  to  be 
in  a  hurry,  for  one  mile  there  was  as  good  as 
two  elsewhere.  Besides,  we  were  obliged  fre- 
quently to  empty  our  shoes  of  the  sand  which 
one  took  in  in  climbing  or  descending  the  bank. 


126  CAPE   COD 

As  we  were  walking  close  to  the  water's  edge 
this  morning,  we  turned  round,  by  chance,  and 
saw  a  large  black  object  which  the  waves  had 
just  cast  up  on  the  beach  behind  us,  yet  too  far 
off  for  us  to  distinguish  what  it  was ;  and  when 
we  were  about  to  return  to  it,  two  men  came 
running  from  the  bank,  where  no  human  beings 
had  appeared  before,  as  if  they  had  come  out  of 
the  sand,  in  order  to  save  it  before  another  wave 
took  it.  As  we  approached,  it  took  successively 
the  form  of  a  huge  fish,  a  drowned  man,  a  sail 
or  a  net,  and  finally  of  a  mass  of  tow-cloth,  part 
of  the  cargo  of  the  Franklin,  which  the  men 
loaded  into  a  cart. 

Objects  on  the  beach,  whether  men  or  inani- 
mate things,  look  not  only  exceedingly  gro- 
tesque, but  much  larger  and  more  wonderful 
than  they  actually  are.  Lately,  when  approach- 
ing the  sea-shore  several  degrees  south  of  this, 
I  saw  before  me,  seemingly  half  a  mile  distant, 
what  appeared  like  bold  and  rugged  cliffs  on 
the  beach,  fifteen  feet  high,  and  whitened  by 
the  sun  and  waves;  but  after  a  few  steps  it 
proved  to  be  low  heaps  of  rags,  —  part  of  the 
cargo  of  a  wrecked  vessel,  —  scarcely  more  than 
a  foot  in  height.  Once  also  it  was  my  business 
to  go  in  search  of  the  relics  of  a  human  body, 
mangled  by  sharks,  which  had  just  been  cast 
up,  a  week  after  a  wreck,  having  got  the  direc- 


THE  BEACH  AGAIN  127 

tion  from  a  light-house :  I  should  find  it  a  mile 
or  two  distant  over  the  sand,  a  dozen  rods  fi'om 
the  water,  covered  with  a  cloth,  by  a  stick  stuck 
up.  I  expected  that  I  must  look  very  narrowly 
to  find  so  small  an  object,  but  the  sandy  beach, 
half  a  mile  wide,  and  stretching  farther  than 
the  eye  could  reach,  was  so  perfectly  smooth 
and  bare,  and  the  mirage  toward  the  sea  so 
magnifying,  that  when  I  was  half  a  mile  distant 
the  insignificant  sliver  which  marked  the  spot 
looked  like  a  bleached  spar,  and  the  relics  were 
as  conspicuous  as  if  they  lay  in  state  on  that 
sandy  plain,  or  a  generation  had  labored  to  pile 
up  their  cairn  there.  Close  at  hand  they  were 
simply  some  bones  with  a  little  flesh  adhering 
to  them,  in  fact,  only  a  slight  inequality  in  the 
sweep  of  the  shore.  There  was  nothing  at  all 
remarkable  aboiit  them,  and  they  were  singu- 
larly inoffensive  both  to  the  senses  and  the  im- 
agination. But  as  I  stood  there  they  grew 
more  and  more  imposing.  They  were  alone 
with  the  beach  and  the  sea,  whose  hollow  roar 
seemed  addressed  to  them,  and  I  was  impressed 
as  if  there  was  an  understanding  between  them 
and  the  ocean  which  necessarily  left  me  out, 
with  my  snivelling  sympathies.  That  dead 
body  had  taken  possession  of  the  shore,  and 
reigned  over  it  as  no  living  one  could,  in  the 
name  of  a  certain  majesty  which  belonged  to  it. 


128  CAPE   COD 

We  afterward  saw  many  small  pieces  of  tow- 
cloth  washed  up,  and  I  learn  that  it  continued 
to  be  found  in  good  condition,  even  as  late  as 
November  in  that  year,  haK  a  dozen  bolts  at  a 
time. 

We  eagerly  filled  our  pockets  with  the  smooth 
round  pebbles  which  in  some  places,  even  here, 
were  thiidy  sprinkled  over  the  sand,  together 
with  flat  circular  shells  {Sciitellce  ?y,  but,  as  we 
had  read,  when  they  were  dry  they  had  lost 
their  beauty,  and  at  each  sitting  we  emptied  our 
pockets  again  of  the  least  remarkable,  until  our 
collection  was  well  culled.  Every  material  was 
rolled  into  the  pebble  form  by  the  waves;  not 
only  stones  of  various  kinds,  but  the  hard  coal 
which  some  vessel  had  drojii^ed,  bits  of  glass, 
and  in  one  instance  a  mass  of  peat  three  feet 
long,  where  there  was  nothing  like  it  to  be  seen 
for  many  miles.  All  the  great  rivers  of  the 
globe  are  annually,  if  not  constantly,  discharg- 
ing great  quantities  of  lumber,  which  drifts  to 
distant  shores.  I  have  also  seen  very  perfect 
pebbles  of  brick,  and  bars  of  Castile  soap  from 
a  wreck  rolled  into  perfect  cylinders,  and  still 
spirally  streaked  with  red,  like  a  barber's  pole. 
When  a  cargo  of  rags  is  washed  ashore,  every 
old  pocket  and  bag-like  recess  will  be  filled  to 
bursting  with  sand  by  being  rolled  on  the  beach ; 
and  on  one  occasion,  the  ^Dockets  in  the  clothing 


THE  BEACH  AGAIN  129 

of  the  wrecked  being  thus  puffed  up,  even  after 
they  had  been  ripped  open  by  wreckers,  deluded 
me  into  the  hope  of  identifying  them  by  the 
contents.  A  pair  of  gloves  looked  exactly  as  if 
filled  by  a  hand.  The  water  in  such  clothing  is 
soon  wrung  out  and  evajjorated,  but  the  sand, 
which  works  itself  into  every  seam,  is  not  so 
easily  got  rid  of.  Sponges,  which  are  picked 
up  on  the  shore,  as  is  well  known,  retain  some 
of  the  sand  of  the  beach  to  the  latest  day,  in 
spite  of  every  effort  to  extract  it. 

I  found  one  stone  on  the  top  of  the  bank,  of 
a  dark  gray  color,  shaped  exactly  like  a  giant 
clam  (^Mactra  solldlssima),  and  of  the  same  size ; 
and,  what  was  more  remarkable,  one  half  of  the 
outside  had  shelled  off  and  lay  near  it,  of  the 
same  form  and  depth  with  one  of  the  valves  of 
this  clam,  while  the  other  half  was  loose,  leav- 
ing a  solid  core  of  a  darker  color  within  it.  I 
afterward  saw  a  stone  resembling  a  razor  clam, 
but  it  was  a  solid  one.  It  appeared  as  if  the 
stone,  in  the  process  of  formation,  had  filled  the 
mould  which  a  clam-shell  furnished;  or  the 
same  law  that  shaped  the  clam  had  made  a  clam 
of  stone.  Dead  clams,  with  shells  full  of  sand, 
are  called  sand  clams.  There  were  many  of  the 
large  clam-shells  filled  with  sand;  and  some- 
times one  valve  was  separately  filled  exactly 
even,  as  if  it  had  been  heaped  and  then  sci^aped. 


130  CAPE   COD 

Even  among  the  many  small  stones  on  the  top 
of  the  bank,  I  found  one  arrow-head. 

Beside  the  giant  clam  and  barnacles,  we 
found  on  the  shore  a  small  clam  (Mesodesma 
arctata),  which  I  dug  with  ray  hands  in  num- 
bers on  the  bars,  and  which  is  sometimes  eaten 
by  the  inhabitants,  in  the  absence  of  the  Mya 
arcnaria,  on  this  side.  Most  of  their  empty 
shells  had  been  perforated  by  some  foe.  Also, 
the  — 

Astarte  castanea. 

The  Edible  Mussel  {Mytilus  edulis)  on  the 
few  rocks,  and  washed  up  in  curious  bunches  of 
forty  or  fifty,  held  together  by  its  rope-like 
hyssus. 

The  ScoUoj)  Shell  (Pecten  concentricus),  used 
for  card-racks  and  pin-cushions. 

Cockles,  or  Cuckoos  (JVatica  heros),  and 
their  remarkable  nidus,  called  "sand-circle," 
looking  like  the  top  of  a  stone  jug  without  the 
stopple,  and  broken  on  one  side,  or  like  a  flar- 
ing dickey  made  of  sand-paper.     Also,  — 

Cancellaria  Couthouyi  (J\  and  — 

Periwinkles  (?)  (^Fusiis  decemcostatus). 

We  afterward  saw  some  other  kinds  on  the 
Bay  side.  Gould  states  that  this  Cape  "has 
hitherto  proved  a  barrier  to  the  migrations  of 
many  species  of  Mollusca." —  "Of  the  one  hun- 
dred and   ninety-seven   species   [which   he  de- 


THE  BEACH  AGAIN  131 

scribed  in  1840  as  belonging  to  Massachusetts], 
eighty-three  do  not  pass  to  the  South  shore,  and 
fifty  are  not  found  on  the  North  shore  of  the 
Cape." 

Among  Crustacea  there  were  the  shells  of 
Crabs  and  Lobsters,  often  bleached  quite  white 
high  up  the  beach;  Sea  or  Beach  Fleas  {Am- 
jihijwda);  and  the  cases  of  the  Horse-shoe 
Crab,  or  Saucepan  Fish  (^Limulus  Polyphe- 
mus), of  which  we  saw  many  alive  on  the  Bay 
side,  where  they  feed  pigs  on  them.  Their 
tails  were  used  as  arrow-heads  by  the  Indians. 

Of  Radiata,  there  were  the  Sea  Chestnut  or 
Egg  (^Echinus  granulatus),  commonly  divested 
of  its  spines;  flat  circular  shells  (^Scutella 
parma  f)  covered  with  chocolate-colored  spines, 
but  becoming  smooth  and  white,  with  five  petal- 
like figures;  a  few  Star-fishes  or  Five-fingers 
(Asterias  nibens);  and  Sun-fishes  or  Sea-jellies 
{Aurelice). 

There  was  also  at  least  one  species  of  Sponge. 

The  plants  which  I  noticed  here  and  there  on 
the  pure  sandy  shelf,  between  the  ordinary 
high-water  mark  and  the  foot  of  the  bank,  were 
Sea  Rocket  {Cakile  Atnef'icajia),  Saltwort 
(Salsola  kali),  Sea  Sandwort  {Honhenya  pep- 
loides),  Sea  Burdock  (^XantMum  echinaturn). 
Sea-side  Spurge  {Euphorhia  polygonifolia)\ 
also,    Beach    Grass    {Arundo,    Psamma,    or 


132  CAPE   COD 

Calamagrostis  arenaria).  Sea-side  Golden-rod 
{SoUdago  seynjiervirens),  and  the  Beach  Pea 
(^Lathyvus  mai'ltimus). 

Sometimes  we  helped  a  wrecker  turn  over  a 
larger  log  than  usual,  or  we  amused  ourselves 
with  rolling  stones  down  the  bank,  but  we  rarely 
could  make  one  reach  the  water,  the  beach  was 
so  soft  and  wide;  or  we  bathed  in  some  shallow 
within  a  bar,  where  the  sea  covered  us  with 
sand  at  every  flux,  though  it  was  quite  cold  and 
windy.  The  ocean  there  is  commonly  but  a 
tantalizing  prospect  in  hot  weather,  for  with  all 
that  water  before  you,  there  is,  as  we  were  af- 
terward told,  no  bathing  on  the  Atlantic  side, 
on  account  of  the  undertow  and  the  rumor  of 
sharks.  At  the  light-house  both  in  Eastham 
and  Truro,  the  only  houses  quite  on  the  shore, 
they  declared,  the  next  year,  that  they  would 
not  bathe  there  "for  any  sum,"  for  they  some- 
times saw  the  sharks  tossed  up  and  quiver  for  a 
moment  on  the  sand.  Others  laughed  at  these 
stories,  but  perhaps  they  could  afford  to  because 
they  never  bathed  anywhere.  One  old  wrecker 
told  us  that  he  killed  a  regular  man-eating  shark 
fourteen  feet  long,  and  hauled  him  out  with  his 
oxen,  where  we  had  bathed;  and  another,  that 
his  father  caught  a  smaller  one  of  the  same  kind 
that  was  stranded  there,  by  standing  him  up  on 
his  snout  so  that  the  waves  could  not  take  him. 


THE  BEACH  AGAIN  .       133 

They  will  tell  you  tough  stories  of  sharks  all 
over  the  Cape,  which  I  do  not  presume  to  doubt 
utterly,  —  how  they  will  sometimes  upset  a 
boat,  or  tear  it  in  pieces,  to  get  at  the  man  in 
it.  I  can  easily  believe  in  the  undertow,  but  I 
have  no  doubt  that  one  shark  in  a  dozen  years 
is  enough  to  keep  up  the  reputation  of  a  beach 
a  hundred  miles  long.  I  should  add,  however, 
that  in  July  we  walked  on  the  bank  here  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  parallel  with  a  fish  about  six 
feet  in  length,  possibly  a  shark,  which  was 
prowling  slowly  along  within  two  rods  of  the 
shore.  It  was  of  a  pale  brown  color,  singularly 
film-like  and  indistinct  in  the  water,  as  if  all 
nature  abetted  this  child  of  ocean,  and  showed 
many  darker  transverse  bars  or  rings  whenever 
it  came  to  the  surface.  It  is  well  known  that 
different  fishes  even  of  the  same  species  are  col- 
ored by  the  water  they  inhabit.  We  saw  it  go 
into  a  little  cove  or  bathing-tub,  where  we  had 
just  been  bathing,  where  the  water  was  only 
four  or  five  feet  deep  at  that  time,  and  after  ex- 
jjloring  it  go  slowly  out  again ;  but  we  continued 
to  bathe  there,  only  observing  first  from  the 
bank  if  the  cove  was  preoccupied.  We  thought 
that  the  water  was  fuller  of  life,  more  aerated 
perhaps  than  that  of  the  Bay,  like  soda-water, 
for  we  were  as  particular  as  yoving  salmon,  and 
the  expectation  of  encountering  a  shark  did  not 


134  CAPE   COD 

subtract   anything   from   its   life-giving   quali- 
ties. 

Sometimes  we  sat  on  the  wet  beach  and 
watched  the  beach  birds,  sand-pipers,  and  oth- 
ers, trotting  along  close  to  each  wave,  and  wait- 
ing for  the  sea  to  cast  up  their  breakfast.  The 
former  (^CharadHus  melodus)  ran  with  great 
rapidity,  and  then  stood  stock  still,  remarkably 
erect,  and  hardly  to  be  distinguished  from  the 
beach.  The  wet  sand  was  covered  with  small 
skipping  Sea  Fleas,  which  apparently  made  a 
part  of  their  food.  These  last  are  the  little 
scavengers  of  the  beach,  and  are  so  numerous 
that  they  will  devour  large  fishes,  which  have 
been  cast  up,  in  a  very  short  time.  One  little 
bird  not  larger  than  a  sparrow  —  it  may  have 
been  a  Phalarope  —  woidd  alight  on  the  tur- 
bulent surface  where  the  breakers  were  five  or 
six  feet  high,  and  float  buoyantly  there  like  a 
duck,  cunningly  taking  to  its  wings  and  lifting 
itself  a  few  feet  through  the  air  over  the  foam- 
ing crest  of  each  breaker,  but  sometimes  outrid- 
ing safely  a  considerable  billow  which  hid  it 
some  seconds,  when  its  instinct  told  it  that  it 
would  not  break.  It  was  a  little  creature  thus 
to  sport  with  the  ocean,  but  it  was  as  perfect  a 
success  in  its  way  as  the  breakers  in  theirs. 
There  was  also  an  almost  uninterrupted  line  of 
coots  rising  and  falling  with  the  waves,  a  few 


THE  BEACH  AGAIN  135 

rods  from  the  shore,  the  whole  length  of  the 
Cape.  They  made  as  constant  a  part  of  the 
ocean's  border  as  the  pads  or  pickerel-weed  do 
of  that  of  a  pond.  We  read  the  following  as  to 
the  Storm  Petrel  {Thalassidroma  Wilsonli), 
which  is  seen  in  the  Bay  as  well  as  on  the  out- 
side. "  The  feathers  on  the  breast  of  the  Storm 
Petrel  are,  like  those  of  all  swimming  birds, 
water-proof;  but  substances  not  susceptible  of 
being  wetted  with  water  are,  for  that  very  rea- 
son, the  best  fitted  for  collecting  oil  from  its 
surface.  That  function  is  performed  by  the 
feathers  on  the  breast  of  the  Storm  Petrels  as 
they  touch  on  the  surface;  and  though  that 
may  not  be  the  only  way  in  which  they  procure 
their  food,  it  is  certainly  that  in  which  they  ob- 
tain great  part  of  it.  They  dash  along  till  they 
have  loaded  their  feathers  and  then  they  pause 
upon  the  waves  and  remove  the  oil  with  their 
bills." 

Thus  we  kept  on  along  the  gently  curving 
shore,  seeing  two  or  three  miles  ahead  at  once, 
—  along  this  ocean  sidewalk,  where  there  was 
none  to  turn  out  for,  with  the  middle  of  the 
road  the  highway  of  nations  on  our  right,  and 
the  sand  cliffs  of  the  Cape  on  our  left.  We 
saw  this  forenoon  a  part  of  the  wreck  of  a  ves- 
sel, probably  the  Franklin,  a  large  piece  fifteen 
feet  square,  and  still  freshly  painted.     With  a 


136  CAPE   COD 

grapi)le  and  a  line  we  could  have  saved  it,  for 
the  waves  repeatedly  washed  it  within  cast,  but 
thej'^  as  often  took  it  back.  It  would  have  been 
a  lucky  haul  for  some  poor  wrecker,  for  I  have 
been  told  that  one  man  who  paid  three  or  four 
dollars  for  a  part  of  the  wreck  of  that  vessel, 
sold  fifty  or  sixty  dollars'  worth  of  iron  out  of 
it.  Another,  the  same  who  picked  up  the  cap- 
tain's valise  with  the  memorable  letter  in  it, 
showed  me,  growing  in  his  garden,  many  pear 
and  plum  trees  which  washed  ashore  from  her, 
all  nicely  tied  up  and  labeled,  and  he  said  that 
he  might  have  got  five  hundred  dollars'  worth; 
for  a  Mr.  Bell  was  importing  the  nucleus  of  a 
nursery  to  be  established  near  Boston.  His 
turnip-seed  came  from  the  same  source.  Also 
valuable  spars  from  the  same  vessel  and  from 
the  Cactus  lay  in  his  yard.  In  short  the  inhab- 
itants visit  the  beach  to  see  what  they  have 
.  caught  as  regularly  as  a  fisherman  his  weir  or  a 
lumberer  his  boom;  the  Cape  is  their  boom. 
I  heard  of  one  who  had  recently  picked  up 
twenty  barrels  of  apples  in  good  condition, 
probably  a  part  of  a  deck  load  thrown  over  in  a 
storm. 

Though  there  are  wreck-masters  appointed  to 
look  after  valuable  property  which  must  be  ad- 
vertised, yet  undoubtedly  a  great  deal  of  value 
is   secretly   carried   off.     But  are   we   not   all 


THE  BEACH  AGAIN  137 

wreckers  contriving  that  some  treasure  may  be 
washed  np  on  our  beach,  that  we  may  secure  it, 
and  do  we  not  infer  the  habits  of  these  Nauset 
and  Barnegat  wreckers,  from  the  common 
modes  of  getting  a  living? 

The  sea,  vast  and  wild  as  it  is,  bears  thus  the 
waste  and  wrecks  of  human  art  to  its  remotest 
shore.  There  is  no  telling  what  it  may  not 
vomit  up.  It  lets  nothing  lie;  not  even  the 
giant  clams  which  cling  to  its  bottom.  It  is 
still  heaving  up  the  tow-cloth  of  the  Franklin, 
and  perhaps  a  piece  of  some  old  pirate's  ship, 
wrecked  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago,  comes 
ashore  to-day.  Some  years  since,  when  a  vessel 
was  wrecked  here  which  had  nutmegs  in  her 
cargo,  they  were  strewn  all  along  the  beach,  and 
for  a  considerable  time  were  not  spoiled  by  the 
salt  water.  Soon  afterward,  a  fisherman  caught 
a  cod  which  was  full  of  them.  Why,  then, 
might  not  the  Spice -Islanders  shake  their  nut- 
meg-trees into  the  ocean,  and  let  all  nations  who 
stand  in  need  of  them  pick  them  up?  How- 
ever, after  a  year,  I  found  that  the  nutmegs 
from  the  Franklin  had  become  soft. 

You  might  make  a  curious  list  of  articles 
which  fishes  have  swallowed,  —  sailors'  open 
clasp  -  knives,  and  bright  tin  snuff-boxes,  not 
knowing  what  was  in  them,  —  and  jugs,  and 
jewels,  and  Jonah.  The  other  day  I  camo 
across  the  following  scrap  in  a  newspaper. 


138  CAPE   COD 

'■  A  Religious  Fish.  —  A  short  time  ago,  mine  host  Stewart, 
of  the  Denton  Hotel,  piirchiised  a  rock-fish,  weigliing  about 
sixtj'  pounds.  On  opening  it  he  found  in  it  a  certificate  of 
membersliip  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  which  we  read  as  follows :  — 

Member 
Methodist  E.  Church, 
Founded  A.  D.  1784. 
Quarterly  Ticket.  18 

Minister. 

'  For  our  light  aiHiction,  which  is  but  for  a  moment,  worketh  for  ua  a 
far  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory.'  — 2  Cor.  iv.  17. 
'  O  what  are  all  my  sufferings  here, 

If,  Lord,  thou  count  me  meet 
With  that  enraptured  host  t'  appear. 
And  worship  at  thy  feet.' 

"  The  paper  was,  of  course,  in  a  crumpled  and  wet  condition, 
but  on  exposing  it  to  the  sun,  and  ironing  the  kinks  out  of  it, 
it  became  quite  legible.  —  Denton  (Md.)  Journal." 

From  time  to  time  we  saved  a  wreck  ourselves, 
a  box  or  barrel,  and  set  it  on  its  end,  and  ap- 
propriated it  witli  crossed  sticks ;  and  it  wiU  lie 
there  perhaps,  respected  by  brother  wreckers, 
until  some  more  violent  storm  shall  take  it, 
really  lost  to  man  until  wrecked  again.  We 
also  saved,  at  the  cost  of  wet  feet  only,  a  valu- 
able cord  and  buoy,  part  of  a  seine,  with  which 
the  sea  was  playing,  for  it  seemed  ungracious 
to  refuse  the  least  gift  which  so  great  a  person- 
age offered  you.  We  brought  this  home  and 
still  use  it  for  a  garden  line.  I  picked  up  a 
bottle  half  buried  in  the  wet  sand,  covered  with 
barnacles,  but  stoppled  tight,  and  half  full  of 


THE  BEACH  AGAIN  139 

red  ale,  which  still  smacked  o£  juniper,  —  all 
that  remained  I  fancied  from  the  wreck  of  a 
rowdy  world,  —  that  great  salt  sea  on  the  one 
hand,  and  this  little  sea  of  ale  on  the  other,  pre- 
serving their  separate  characters.  What  if  it 
could  tell  us  its  adventures  over  countless  ocean 
waves !  Man  would  'not  be  man  through  such 
ordeals  as  it  had  passed.  But  as  I  poured  it 
slowly  out  on  to  the  sand,  it  seemed  to  me  that 
man  himself  was  like  a  half -emptied  bottle  of  pale 
ale,  which  Time  had  drunk  so  far,  yet  stoppled 
tight  for  a  while,  and  drifting  about  in  the  ocean 
of  circumstances,  but  destined  erelong  to  mingle 
with  the  surrounding  waves,  or  be  spilled  amid 
the  sands  of  a  distant  shore. 

In  the  summer  I  saw  two  men  fishing  for  Bass 
hereabouts.  Their  bait  was  a  bullfrog,  or  sev- 
eral small  frogs  in  a  bunch,  for  want  of  squid. 
They  followed  a  retiring  wave,  and  whirling 
their  lines  round  and  round  their  heads  with  in- 
creasing rapidity,  threw  them  as  far  as  they 
could  into  the  sea ;  then  retreating,  sat  down  flat 
on  the  sand,  and  waited  for  a  bite.  It  was  liter- 
ally (or  Uttorally)  walking  down  to  the  shore, 
and  throwing  your  line  into  the  Atlantic.  I 
should  not  have  known  what  might  take  hold  of 
the  other  end,  whether  Proteus  or  another.  At 
any  rate,  if  you  could  not  pull  him  in,  why,  you 
might  let  him  go  without  being  pidled  in  your- 


140  CAPE   COD 

self.  And  they  kuew  by  experience  that  it 
would  be  a  Strii^ed  Bass,  or  perhaps  a  Cod,  for 
these  fishes  play  along  near  the  shore. 

From  time  to  time  we  sat  under  the  lee  of  a 
sand-hill  on  the  bank,  thinly  covered  with  coarse 
beach-grass,  and  steadily  gazed  on  the  sea,  or 
watched  the  vessels  going  south,  all  Blessings  of 
the  Bay  of  course.  We  could  see  a  little  more 
than  half  a  circle  of  ocean,  besides  the  glimpses 
of  the  Bay  which  we  got  behind  us;  the  sea 
there  was  not  wild  and  dreary  in  all  respects, 
for  there  were  frequently  a  hundred  sail  in  sight 
at  once  on  the  Atlantic.  You  can  commonly 
count  about  eighty  in  a  favorable  summer  day, 
and  pilots  sometimes  land  and  ascend  the  bank 
to  look  out  for  those  which  require  their  ser- 
vices. These  had  been  waiting  for  fair  weather, 
and  had  come  out  of  Boston  Harbor  together. 
The  same  is  the  case  when  they  have  been  as- 
sembled in  the  Vineyard  Sound,  so  that  you  may 
see  but  few  one  day,  and  a  large  fleet  the  next. 
Schooners  with  many  jibs  and  stay-sails  crowded 
all  the  sea  road ;  square-rigged  vessels  with  their 
great  height  and  breadth  of  canvas  were  ever 
and  anon  appearing  out  of  the  far  horizon,  or 
disappearing  and  sinking  into  it ;  here  and  there 
a  pilot-boat  was  towing  its  little  boat  astern  to- 
ward some  distant  foreigner  who  had  just  fired 
a  gun,    the    echo    of   which   along   the   shore 


THE  BEACH  AGAIN  141 

sounded  like  the  caving  of  the  bank.  We  could 
see  the  pilot  looking  through  his  glass  toward 
the  distant  ship  which  was  putting  back  to  speak 
with  him.  He  sails  many  a  mile  to  meet  her; 
and  now  she  puts  her  sails  aback,  and  communi- 
cates with  him  alongside,  —  sends  some  import- 
ant message  to  the  owners,  and  then  bids  fare- 
well to  these  shores  for  good  and  all;  or,  per- 
chance a  propeller  passed  and  made  fast  to  some 
disabled  craft,  or  one  that  had  been  becalmed, 
whose  cargo  of  fruit  might  spoil.  Though  si- 
lently, and  for  the  most  part  incommunicatively, 
going  about  their  business,  they  were,  no  doubt, 
a  source  of  cheerfulness  and  a  kind  of  society  to 
one  another. 

To-day  it  was  the  Purple  Sea,  an  epithet 
which  I  should  not  before  have  accepted.  There 
were  distinct  patches  of  the  color  of  a  purple 
grape  with  the  bloom  rubbed  off.  But  first  and 
last  the  sea  is  of  all  colors.  Well  writes  Gilpin 
concerning  "  the  brilliant  hues  which  are  contin- 
ually playing  on  the  surface  of  a  quiet  ocean," 
and  this  was  not  too  turbulent  at  a  distance  from 
the  shore.  "Beautiful,"  says  he,  "no  doubt  in 
a  high  degree  are  those  glimmering  tints  which 
often  invest  the  tops  of  mountains ;  but  they  are 
mere  coruscations  compared  with  these  marine 
colors,  which  are  continually  varying  and  shift- 
ing into  each  other  in  all  the  vivid  splendor  of 


142  CAPE  COD 

the  rainbow,  through  the  space  often  of  several 
leagues."  Commonly,  in  calm  weather,  for  half 
a  mile  from  the  shore,  where  the  bottom  tinges 
it,  the  sea  is  green,  or  greenish,  as  are  some 
ponds;  then  blue  for  many  miles,  often  with 
purple  tinges,  bounded  in  the  distance  by  a  light, 
almost  silvery  stripe ;  beyond  which  there  is  gen- 
erally a  dark  blue  rim,  like  a  mountain  ridge  in 
the  horizon,  as  if,  like  that,  it  owed  its  color  to 
the  intervening  atmosphere.  On  another  day,  it 
will  be  marked  with  long  streaks,  alternately 
smooth  and  rippled,  light-colored  and  dark,  even 
like  our  inland  meadows  in  a  freshet,  and  show- 
ing which  way  the  wind  sets. 

Thus  we  sat  on  the  foaming  shore,  looking  on 
the  wine-colored  ocean,  — 

0iV'  €<J)'  aAbs  iroKiTJs,  dpSuov  e'lrl  oJvoira  •ir6vT0v. 

Here  and  there  was  a  darker  spot  on  its  surface, 
the  shadow  of  a  cloud,  though  the  sky  was  so 
clear  that  no  cloud  would  have  been  noticed 
otherwise,  and  no  shadow  would  have  been  seen 
on  the  land,  where  a  much  smaller  surface  is 
visible  at  once.  So,  distant  clouds  and  showers 
may  be  seen  on  all  sides  by  a  sailor  in  the  course 
of  a  day,  which  do  not  necessarily  portend  rain 
where  he  is.  In  July  we  saw  similar  dark  blue 
patches  where  schools  of  Menhaden  rippled  the 
surface,  scarcely  to  be  distinguished  from  the 


THE  BEACH  AGAIN  143 

shadows  of  clouds.  Sometimes  the  sea  was 
spotted  with  them  far  and  wide,  such  is  its  in- 
exhaustible fertility.  Close  at  hand  you  see 
their  back  fin,  which  is  very  long  and  sharp, 
projecting  two  or  three  inches  above  water. 
From  time  to  time  also  we  saw  the  white  bellies 
of  the  Bass  playing  along  the  shore. 

It  was  a  poetic  recreation  to  watch  those  dis- 
tant sails  steering  for  half  fabulous  ports,  whose 
very  names  are  a  mysterious  music  to  our  ears ; 
Fayal,  and  Babel-mandel,  ay,  and  Chagres,  and 
Panama,  —  bound  to  the  famous  Bay  of  San 
Francisco,  and  the  golden  streams  of  Sacramento 
and  San  Joaquin,  to  Feather  River  and  the 
American  Fork,  where  Sutter's  Fort  presides, 
and  inland  stands  the  City  de  los  Angeles.  It 
is  remarkable  that  men  do  not  sail  the  sea  with 
more  expectation.  Nothing  remarkable  was 
ever  accomplished  in  a  prosaic  mood.  The 
heroes  and  discoverers  have  found  true  more 
than  was  previously  believed,  only  when  they 
were  expecting  and  dreaming  of  something  more 
than  their  contemporaries  dreamed  of,  or  even 
themselves  discovered,  that  is,  when  they  were 
in  a  frame  of  mind  fitted  to  behold  the  truth. 
Referred  to  the  world's  standard,  they  are  al- 
ways insane.  Even  savages  have  indirectly  sur- 
mised as  much.  Humboldt,  speaking  of  Colum- 
bus approaching  the  New  World,  says:  "The 


144  CAPE  COD 

grateful  coolness  of  the  evening  air,  the  ethereal 
purity  of  the  starry  firmament,  the  bahny  fra- 
grance of  flowers,  wafted  to  him  by  the  land 
breeze,  all  led  him  to  suppose  (as  we  are  told  by 
Herrera,  in  the  Decades)  that  he  was  approach- 
ing the  garden  of  Eden,  the  sacred  abode  of  our 
first  parents.  The  Orinoco  seemed  to  him  one 
of  the  four  rivers  which,  according  to  the  ven- 
erable tradition  of  the  ancient  world,  flowed 
from  Paradise,  to  water  and  divide  the  surface 
of  the  earth,  newly  adorned  with  plants."  So 
even  the  expeditions  for  the  discovery  of  El 
Dorado,  and  of  the  Fountain  of  Youth,  led  to 
real,  if  not  compensatory  discoveries. 

We  discerned  vessels  so  far  off,  when  once 
we  began  to  look,  that  only  the  tops  of  their 
masts  in  the  horizon  were  visible,  and  it  took  a 
strong  intention  of  the  eye,  and  its  most  favor- 
able side,  to  see  them  at  all,  and  sometimes  we 
doubted  if  we  were  not  counting  our  eyelashes. 
Charles  Darwin  states  that  he  saw,  from  the  base 
of  the  Andes,  "  the  masts  of  the  vessels  at  anchor 
in  the  bay  of  Valparaiso,  although  not  less  than 
twenty-six  geographical  miles  distant,"  and  that 
Anson  had  been  surprised  at  the  distance  at 
which  his  vessels  were  discovered  from  the  coast, 
without  knowing  the  reason,  namely,  the  great 
height  of  the  land  and  the  transparency  of  the 
air.     Steamers  may  be  detected  much   farther 


THE  BEACH  AGAIN  145 

than  sailing  vessels,  for,  as  one  says,  when  their 
hulls  and  masts  of  wood  and  iron  are  down, 
their  smoky  masts  and  streamers  still  betray 
them;  and  the  same  writer,  speaking  of  the 
comparative  advantages  of  bituminous  and  an- 
thracite coal  for  war-steamers,  states  that  "from 
the  ascent  of  the  columns  of  smoke  above  the 
horizon,  the  motions  of  the  steamers  in  Calais 
Harbor  [on  the  coast  of  France]  are  at  all  times 
observable  at  Ramsgate  [on  the  English  coast], 
from  the  first  lighting  of  the  fires  to  the  putting 
out  at  sea;  and  that  in  America  the  steamers 
burning  the  fat  bituminous  coal  can  be  tracked 
at  sea  at  least  seventy  miles  before  the  hulls  be- 
come visible,  by  the  dense  columns  of  black 
smoke  pouring  out  of  their  chimneys,  and  trail- 
ing along  the  horizon." 

Thouo'h  there  were  numerous  vessels  at  this 

ID 

great  distance  in  the  horizon  on  every  side,  yet 
the  vast  spaces  between  them,  like  the  spaces 
between  the  stars,  —  far  as  they  were  distant 
from  us,  so  were  they  from  one  another  —  nay, 
some  were  twice  as  far  from  each  other  as  from 
us,  —  impressed  us  with  a  sense  of  the  immensity 
of  the  ocean,  the  "unfruitful  ocean,"  as  it  has 
been  called,  and  we  could  see  what  proportion 
man  and  his  works  bear  to  the  globe.  As  we 
looked  off,  and  saw  the  water  growing  darker 
and  darker  and  deeper  and  deeper  the  farther 


146  CAPE   COD 

we  looked,  till  it  was  awful  to  consider,  and  it 
appeared  to  have  no  relation  to  the  friendly 
land,  either  as  shore  or  bottom,  —  of  what  use  is 
a  bottom  if  it  is  out  of  sight,  if  it  is  two  or 
three  miles  from  the  surface,  and  you  are  to  be 
drowned  so  long  before  you  get  to  it,  though  it 
were  made  of  the  same  stuff  with  your  native 
soil?  —  over  that  ocean  where,  as  the  Veda 
says,  "there  is  nothing  to  give  support,  nothing 
to  rest  upon,  nothing  to  cling  to,"  I  felt  that  I 
was  a  land  animal.  The  man  in  a  balloon  even 
may  commonly  alight  on  the  earth  in  a  few  mo- 
ments, but  the  sailor's  only  hope  is  that  he  may 
reach  the  distant  shore.  I  could  then  appre- 
ciate the  heroism  of  the  old  navigator.  Sir 
Humphrey  Gilbert,  of  whom  it  is  related,  that 
being  overtaken  by  a  storm  when  on  his  return 
from  America,  in  the  year  1583,  far  northeast- 
ward from  where  we  were,  sitting  abaft  with  a 
book  in  his  hand,  just  before  he  was  swallowed 
up  in  the  deep,  he  cried  out  to  his  comrades  in 
the  Hind,  as  they  came  within  hearing,  "We 
are  as  near  to  Heaven  by  sea  as  by  land."  I 
saw  that  it  would  not  be  easy  to  realize. 

On  Cape  Cod  the  next  most  eastern  land  you 
hear  of  is  St.  George's  Bank  (the  fishermen  tell 
of  "Georges,"  "Cashus,"  and  other  sunken 
lands  which  they  frequent).  Every  Cape  man 
has  a  theory  about  George's  Bank  having  been 


THE  BEACH  AGAIN  147 

an  island  once,  and  in  their  accounts  they  grad- 
ually reduce  the  shallowness  from  six,  five,  four, 
two  fathoms,  to  somebody's  confident  assertion 
that  he  has  seen  a  mackerel-gull  sitting  on  a 
piece  of  dry  land  there.  It  reminded  me,  when 
I  thought  of  the  shipwrecks  which  had  taken 
place  there,  of  the  Isle  of  Demons,  laid  down  off 
this  coast  in  old  charts  of  the  New  World. 
There  must  be  something  monstrous,  methinks, 
in  a  vision  of  the  sea  bottom  from  over  some 
bank  a  thousand  miles  from  the  shore,  more 
awful  than  its  imagined  bottomlessness ;  a 
drowned  continent,  all  livid  and  frothing  at  the 
nostrils,  like  the  body  of  a  drowned  man,  which 
is  better  sunk  deep  than  near  the  surface. 

I  have  been  surprised  to  discover  from  a 
steamer  the  shallowness  of  Massachusetts  Bay 
itself.  Off  Billingsgate  Point  I  could  have 
touched  the  bottom  with  a  pole,  and  I  plainly 
%aw  it  variously  shaded  with  seaweed,  at  five  or 
six  miles  from  the  shore.  This  is  "The  Shoal- 
ground  of  the  Cape,"  it  is  true,  but  elsewhere 
the  Bay  is  not  much  deeper  than  a  country 
pond.  We  are  told  that  the  deepest  water  in 
the  English  Channel  between  Shakespeare's 
Cliff  and  Cape  Grinez,  in  France,  is  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty  feet;  and  Guyot  says  that  "the 
Baltic  Sea  has  a  depth  of  only  one  hundred  and 
twenty  feet  between  the  coasts  of  Germany  and 


148  CAPE   COD 

those  of  Sweden,"  and  "the  Adriatic  between 
Venice  and  Trieste  has  a  depth  of  only  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  feet."  A  pond  in  my  native 
town,  only  half  a  mile  long,  is  more  than  one 
hundred  feet  deep. 

The  ocean  is  but  a  larger  lake.  At  midsum- 
mer you  may  sometimes  see  a  strip  of  glassy 
smoothness  on  it,  a  few  rods  in  width  and  many 
miles  long,  as  if  the  surface  there  were  covered 
with  a  thin  pellicle  of  oil,  just  as  on  a  country 
pond;  a  sort  of  stand-still,  you  would  say,  at 
the  meeting  or  parting  of  two  currents  of  air  (if 
it  does  not  rather  mark  the  unrippled  steadiness 
of  a  current  of  water  beneath),  for  sailors  tell 
of  the  ocean  and  land  breeze  meeting  between 
the  fore  and  aft  sails  of  a  vessel,  while  the  latter 
are  full,  the  former  being  suddenly  taken  aback. 
Daniel  Webster,  in  one  of  his  letters  describing 
blue-fishing  off  Martha's  Vineyard,  referring  to 
those  smooth  places,  which  fishermen  and  sailor's 
call  "slicks,"  says:  "We  met  with  them  yester- 
day, and  our  boatman  made  for  them,  whenever 
discovered.  He  said  they  were  caused  by  the 
blue-fish  chopping  up  their  prey.  That  is  to 
say,  those  voracious  fellows  get  into  a  school  of 
menhaden,  which  are  too  large  to  swallow 
whole,  and  they  bite  them  into  pieces  to  suit 
their  tastes.  And  the  oil  from  this  butchery, 
rising  to  the  surface,  makes  the  'slick  '." 


THE  BEACH  AGAIN  149 

Yet  this  same  placid  Ocean,  as  civil  now  as  a 
city's  harbor,  a  place  for  ships  and  commerce, 
will  erelong  be  lashed  into  sudden  fury,  and  all 
its  caves  and  cliffs  will  resound  with  tumult.  It 
will  ruthlessly  heave  these  vessels  to  and  fro, 
break  them  in  pieces  in  its  sandy  or  stony  jaws, 
and  deliver  their  crews  to  sea-monsters.  It  will 
play  with  them  like  seaweed,  distend  them  like 
dead  frogs,  and  carry  them  about,  now  high, 
now  low,  to  show  to  the  fishes,  giving  them  a 
nibble.  This  gentle  Ocean  will  toss  and  tear 
the  rag  of  a  man's  body  like  the  father  of  mad 
bulls,  and  his  relatives  may  be  seen  seeking  the 
remnants  for  weeks  along  the  strand.  From 
some  quiet  inland  hamlet  they  have  rushed  weep- 
ing to  the  unheard-of  shore,  and  now  stand  un- 
certain where  a  sailor  has  recently  been  buried 
amid  the  sand-hills. 

It  is  generally  supposed  that  they  who  have 
long  been  conversant  with  the  Ocean  can  fore- 
tell, by  certain  indications,  such  as  its  roar  and 
the  notes  of  sea-fowl,  when  it  will  change  from 
calm  to  storm;  but  probably  no  such  ancient 
mariner  as  we  dream  of  exists;  they  know  no 
more,  at  least,  than  the  older  sailors  do  about 
this  voyage  of  life  on  which  we  are  all  embarked. 
Nevertheless,  we  love  to  hear  the  sayings  of  old 
sailors,  and  their  accounts  of  natural  phenomena 
which    totally    ignore,    and    are    ignored    by, 


150  CAPE   COD 

science;  and  possibly  they  have  not  always 
looked  over  the  gunwale  so  long  in  vain.  Kiilm 
repeats  a  stoiy  which  was  told  him  in  Philadel- 
phia by  a  Mr.  Cock,  who  was  one  day  sailing  to 
the  West  Indies  in  a  small  yacht,  with  an  old 
man  on  board  who  was  well  acquainted  with 
those  seas.  "The  old  man  sounding  the  depth, 
called  to  the  mate  to  tell  Mr.  Cock  to  launch 
the  boats  immediately,  and  to  put  a  sufficient 
number  of  men  into  them,  in  order  to  tow  the 
yacht  during  the  calm,  that  they  might  reach 
the  island  before  them  as  soon  as  possible,  as 
within  twenty-four  hours  there  woidd  be  a 
strong  hurricane.  Mr.  Cock  asked  him  what 
reasons  he  had  to  think  so ;  the  old  man  replied, 
that  on  sounding,  he  saw  the  lead  in  the  water 
at  a  distance  of  many  fathoms  more  than  he  had 
seen  it  before ;  that  therefore  the  water  was  be- 
come clear  all  of  a  sudden,  which  he  looked  upon 
as  a  certain  sign  of  an  im23ending  hurricane  in 
the  sea."  The  sequel  of  the  story  is,  that  by 
good  fortvme,  and  by  dint  of  rowing,  they  man- 
aged to  gain  a  safe  harbor  before  the  hurricane 
had  reached  its  height ;  but  it  finally  raged  with 
so  much  violence,  that  not  only  many  ships  were 
lost  and  houses  unroofed,  but  even  their  own 
vessel  in  harbor  was  washed  so  far  on  shore  that 
several  weeks  elapsed  before  it  could  be  got  off. 
The  Greeks  would  not  have  called  the  ocean 


THE  BEACH  AGAIN  151 

drpuycTos,  or  unfruitful,  though  it  does  not  pro- 
duce wheat,  if  they  had  viewed  it  by  the  light  of 
modern  science,  for  naturalists  now  assert  that 
"the  sea,  and  not  the  land,  is  the  principal  seat 
of  life,"  —  though  not  of  vegetable  life.  Dar- 
win affirms  that  "our  most  thickly  inhabited 
forests  appear  almost  as  deserts  when  we  come 
to  compare  them  with  the  corresponding  regions 
of  the  ocean."  Agassiz  and  Gould  tell  us  that 
"the  sea  teems  with  animals  of  all  classes,  far 
beyond  the  extreme  point  of  flowering  plants;  " 
but  they  add,  that  "experiments  of  dredging  in 
very  deep  water  have  also  taught  us  that  the 
abyss  of  the  ocean  is  nearly  a  desert;" — "so 
that  modern  investigations,"  to  quote  the  words 
of  Desor,  "merely  go  to  confirm  the  great  idea 
which  was  vaguely  anticipated  by  the  ancient 
poets  and  philosophers,  that  the  Ocean  is  the 
origin  of  all  things."  Yet  marine  animals  and 
plants  hold  a  lower  rank  in  the  scale  of  being 
than  land  animals  and  plants.  "There  is  no 
instance  known,"  says  Desor,  "of  an  animal 
becoming  aquatic  in  its  perfect  state,  after  hav- 
ing lived  in  its  lower  stage  on  dry  land,"  but  as 
in  the  case  of  the  tadj)ole,  "the  progress  invari- 
ably points  towards  the  dry  land."  In  short, 
the  dry  land  itself  came  through  and  out  of  the 
water  in  its  way  to  the  heavens,  for,  "in  going 
back  through  the  geological  ages,  we  come  to 


152  CAPE   COD 

an  epoch  when,  according  to  all  appearances, 
the  dry  land  did  not  exist,  and  when  the  surface 
of  our  globe  was  entirely  covered  with  water." 
We  looked  on  the  sea,  then,  once  more,  not  as 
drpvyero?,  or  unfruitful,  but  as  it  has  been  more 
truly  called,  the  "laboratory  of  continents." 

Though  we  have  indulged  in  some  placid  re- 
flections of  late,  the  reader  must  not  forget  that 
the  dash  and  roar  of  the  waves  were  incessant. 
Indeed,  it  would  be  well  if  he  were  to  read  with 
a  large  conch-shell  at  his  ear.  But  notwith- 
standing that  it  was  very  cold  and  windy  to-day, 
it  was  such  cold  as  we  thought  would  not  cause 
one  to  take  cold  who  was  exposed  to  it,  owing 
to  the  saltness  of  the  air  and  the  drjmess  of  the 
soil.  Yet  the  author  of  the  old  "  DescrijDtion  of 
Wellfleet"  says,  "The  atmosphere  is  very  much 
impregnated  with  saline  particles,  which,  per- 
haj)s,  with  the  great  use  of  fish,  and  the  neglect 
of  cider  and  spruce-beer,  may  be  a  reason  why 
the  people  are  more  subject  to  sore  mouths  and 
throats  than  in  other  places." 


ACROSS   THE  CAPE 

When  we  have  returned  from  the  seaside, 
we  sometimes  ask  ourselves  why  we  did  not 
spend  more  time  in  gazing  at  the  sea;  but  very- 
soon  the  traveler  does  not  look  at  the  sea  more 
than  at  the  heavens.  As  for  the  interior,  if  the 
elevated  sand-bar  in  the  midst  of  the  ocean  can 
be  said  to  have  any  interior,  it  was  an  exceed- 
ingly desolate  landscape,  with  rarely  a  cultivated 
or  cultivable  field  in  sight.  We  saw  no  villages, 
and  seldom  a  house,  for  these  are  generally  on 
the  Bay  side.  It  was  a  succession  of  shrubby 
hills  and  vaUeys,  now  wearing  an  autumnal  tint. 
You  would  frequently  think,  from  the  character 
of  the  surface,  the  dwarfish  trees,  and  the  bear- 
berries  around,  that  you  were  on  the  top  of  a 
mountain.  The  only  wood  in  Eastham  was  on 
the  edge  of  Wellfleet.  The  pitch-pines  were 
not  commonly  more  than  fifteen  or  eighteen  feet 
high.  The  larger  ones  were  covered  with 
lichens,  — often  hung  with  the  long  gray  Usnea. 
There  is  scarcely  a  white-pine  on  the  forearm  of 
the  Cape.     Yet  in  the  northwest  part  of  East- 


154  CAPE   COD 

ham,  near  the  Camp  Ground,  we  saw,  the  next 
summer,  some  quite  rural,  and  even  sylvan  re- 
treats, for  the  Cape,  where  small  rustling  groves 
of  oaks  and  locusts  and  whispering  pines,  on 
perfectly  level  ground,  made  a  little  paradise. 
The  locusts,  both  transplanted  and  growing  nat- 
urally about  the  houses  there,  appeared  to  flour- 
ish better  than  any  other  tree.  There  were 
thin  belts  of  wood  in  Wellfleet  and  Truro,  a 
mile  or  more  from  the  Atlantic,  but,  for  the 
most  part,  we  could  see  the  horizon  through 
them,  or,  if  extensive,  the  trees  were  not  large. 
Both  oaks  and  pines  had  often  the  same  flat  look 
with  the  apple-trees.  Commonly,  the  oak  woods 
twenty -five  years  old  were  a  mere  scraggy  shrub- 
bery nine  or  ten  feet  high,  and  we  could  fre- 
quently reach  to  their  topmost  leaf.  Much  that 
is  called  "woods  "  was  about  half  as  high  as  this, 
—  only  patches  of  shrub-oak,  bayberry,  beach- 
plum,  and  wild  roses,  overrun  with  woodbine. 
When  the  roses  were  in  bloom,  these  patches  in 
the  midst  of  the  sand  displayed  such  a  profusion 
of  blossoms,  mingled  with  the  aroma  of  the  bay- 
berry,  that  no  Italian  or  other  artificial  rose- 
garden  could  equal  them.  They  were  perfectly 
Elysian,  and  realized  my  idea  of  an  oasis  in  the 
desert.  Huckleberry  bushes  were  very  abun- 
dant, and  the  next  summer  they  bore  a  remark- 
able quantity  of  that  kind  of  gall  called  Huckle- 


ACROSS   THE   CAPE  155 

berry-apple,  forming  quite  handsome  though 
monstrous  blossoms.  But  it  must  be  added, 
that  this  shrubbery  swarmed  with  wood-ticks, 
sometimes  very  troublesome  parasites,  and 
which  it  takes  very  horny  fingers  to  crack. 

The  inhabitants  of  these  towns  have  a  great 
regard  for  a  tree,  though  their  standard  for  one 
is  necessarily  neither  lai'ge  nor  high ;  and  when 
they  tell  you  of  the  large  trees  that  once  grew 
here,  you  must  think  of  them,  not  as  absolutely 
large,  but  large  compared  with  the  present  gen- 
eration. Their  "brave  old  oaks,"  of  which 
they  speak  with  so  much  respect,  and  which 
they  will  point  out  to  you  as  relics  of  the  primi- 
tive forest,  one  hundred  or  one  hundred  and 
fifty,  ay,  for  aught  they  know,  two  hundred 
years  old,  have  a  ridiculously  dwarfish  appear- 
ance, which  excites  a  smile  in  the  beholder. 
The  largest  and  most  venerable  which  they  will 
show  you  in  such  a  case  are,  perhaps,  not  more 
than  twenty  or  twenty -five  feet  high.  I  was 
especially  amused  by  the  Liliputian  old  oaks  in 
the  south  part  of  Truro.  To  the  inexperienced 
eye,  which  appreciated  their  proportions  only, 
they  might  appear  vast  as  the  tree  which  saved 
his  royal  majesty,  but  measured  they  were 
dwarfed  at  once  almost  into  lichens  which  a  deer 
might  eat  up  in  a  morning.  Yet  they  will  tell 
you  that  large  schooners  were  once  built  of  tim- 


156  CAPE   COD 

ber  which  grew  in  AYellfleet.  The  old  houses 
also  are  built  of  che  timber  of  the  Cape ;  but 
instead  of  the  forests  in  the  midst  of  which  they 
originally  stood,  barren  heaths,  with  poverty- 
grass  for  heather,  now  stretch  away  on  every 
side.  The  modern  houses  are  built  of  what  is 
called  "dimension  timber,"  imported  from 
Maine,  all  ready  to  be  set  up,  so  that  commonly 
they  do  not  touch  it  again  with  an  axe.  Almost 
all  the  wood  used  for  fuel  is  im2oorted  by  vessels 
or  currents,  and  of  course  all  the  coal.  I  was 
told  that  probably  a  quarter  of  the  fuel  and  a 
considerable  part  of  the  lumber  used  in  North 
Truro  was  drift-wood.  Many  get  all  their  fuel 
from  the  beach. 

Of  birds  not  found  in  the  interior  of  the 
State, —  at  least  in  my  neighborhood, —  I  heard, 
in  the  summer,  the  Black-throated  Bunting 
{Fringilla  Americana)  2i\m(\.  the  shrubbery,  and 
in  the  open  land  the  Upland  Plover  (Totanus 
Sartramlus),  whose  quivering  notes  were  ever 
and  anon  prolonged  into  a  clear,  somewhat 
plaintive  yet  hawk -like  scream,  which  sounded 
at  a  very  indefinite  distance.  The  bird  may 
have  been  in  the  next  field,  though  it  sounded  a 
mile  off. 

To-day  we  were  walking  through  Truro,  a 
to\\Ti  of  about  eiofhteen  hundred  inhabitants. 
We  had  already  come  to  Pamet  River,  which 


ACROSS     THE   CAPE  157 

empties  into  the  Bay.  This  was  the  limit  of  the 
Pilgrims'  journey  up  the  Cape  from  Province- 
town,  when  seeking  a  place  for  settlement.  It 
rises  in  a  hollow  within  a  few  rods  of  the  Atlan- 
tic, and  one  who  lives  near  its  source  told  us 
that  in  high  tides  the  sea  leaked  through,  yet 
the  wind  and  waves  preserve  intact  the  barrier 
between  them,  and  thus  the  whole  river  is  stead- 
ily driven  westward  butt-end  foremost,  —  foun- 
tain-head, channel,  and  light-house,  at  the 
mouth,  all  together. 

Early  in  the  afternoon  we  reached  the  High- 
land Light,  whose  white  tower  we  had  seen  ris- 
ing out  of  the  .bank  in  front  of  us  for  the  last 
mile  or  two.  It  is  fourteen  miles  from  the 
Nauset  Lights,  on  what  is  called  the  Clay 
Pounds,  an  immense  bed  of  clay  abutting  on  the 
Atlantic,  and,  as  the  keeper  told  us,  stretching 
quite  across  the  Cape,  which  is  here  only  about 
two  miles  wide.  We  perceived  at  once  a  differ- 
ence in  the  soil,  for  there  was  an  interruption  of 
the  desert,  and  a  slight  appearance  of  a  sod  un- 
der our  feet,  such  as  we  had  not  seen  for  the  last 
two  days. 

After  arranging  to  lodge  at  the  light-house, 
we  rambled  across  the  Cape  to  the  Bay,  over  a 
singularly  bleak  and  barren-looking  covintry, 
consisting  of  rounded  hills  and  hollows,  called 
by  geologists  diluvial  elevations  and  depressions, 


158  CAPE   COD 

—  a  kind  of  scenery  which  has  been  compared 
to  a  chopped  sea,  though  this  suggests  too  sud- 
den a  transition.  There  is  a  delineation  of  this 
very  landscape  in  Hitchcock's  Report  on  the 
Geology  of  Massachusetts,  a  work  which,  by  its 
size  at  least,  reminds  one  of  a  diluvial  elevation 
itself.  Looking  soiithward  from  the  light- 
house, the  Cape  appeared  like  an  elevated  pla- 
teau, sloping  very  regidarly,  though  slightly, 
downward  from  the  edge  of  the  bank  on  the 
Atlantic  side,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
above  the  ocean,  to  that  on  the  Bay  side.  On 
traversing  this  we  found  it  to  be  interrupted  by 
broad  valleys  or  gullies,  which  become  the  hol- 
lows in  the  bank  when  the  sea  has  worn  up  to 
them.  They  are  commonly  at  right  angles  with 
the  shore,  and  often  extend  quite  across  the 
Cape.  Some  of  the  valleys,  however,  are  circu- 
lar, a  hundred  feet  deep,  without  any  outlet,  as 
if  the  Cape  had  sunk  in  those  places,  or  its 
sands  had  run  out.  The  few  scattered  houses 
which  we  passed,  being  placed  at  the  bottom  of 
the  hollows,  for  shelter  and  fertility,  were,  for 
the  most  part,  concealed  entirely,  as  much  as  if 
they  had  been  swallowed  up  in  the  earth.  Even 
a  village  with  its  meeting-house,  which  we  had 
left  little  more  than  a  stone's  throw  behind,  had 
sunk  into  the  earth,  spire  and  all,  and  we  saw 
only  the  surface  of  the  upland  and  the  sea  on 


ACROSS   THE   CAPE  159 

either  hand.  When  approaching  it,  we  had 
mistaken  the  belfry  for  a  summer-house  on  the 
ph^in.  We  began  to  think  that  we  might  tum- 
ble into  a  village  before  we  were  aware  of  it,  as 
into  an  ant-lion's  hole,  and  be  drawn  into  the 
sand  irrecoverably.  The  most  conspicuous  ob- 
jects on  the  land  were  a  distant  windmill,  or  a 
meeting-house  standing  alone,  for  only  they 
could  afford  to  occupy  an  exposed  place.  A 
great  part  of  the  township,  however,  is  a  bar- 
ren, heath -like  plain,  and  perhaps  one  third  of 
it  lies  in  common,  though  the  property  of  indi- 
viduals. The  author  of  the  old  "Description  of 
Truro,"  sj)eaking  of  the  soil,  says,  "The  snow, 
which  woidd  be  of  essential  service  to  it  pro- 
vided it  lay  level  and  covered  the  ground,  is 
blown  into  drifts  and  into  the  sea."  This  pecu- 
liar open  country,  with  here  and  there  a  patch 
of  shrubbery,  extends  as  much  as  seven  miles, 
or  from  Pamet  River  on  the  south  to  High 
Head  on  the  north,  and  from  Ocean  to  Bay. 
To  walk  over  it  makes  on  a  stranger  such  an  im- 
pression as  being  at  sea,  and  he  finds  it  impos- 
sible to  estimate  distances  in  any  weather.  A 
windmill  or  a  herd  of  cows  may  seem  to  be  far 
away  in  the  horizon,  yet,  after  going  a  few  rods, 
he  will  be  close  upon  them.  He  is  also  deluded 
by  other  kinds  of  mirage.  When,  in  the  sum- 
mer, I  saw  a  family  a-blueberrying  a  mile  off, 


100  CAPE   COD 

walking  about  amid  the  dwarfish  bushes  which 
did  not  come  up  higher  than  their  ankles,  they 
seemed  to  me  to  be  a  race  of  giants,  twenty  feet 
high  at  least. 

The  highest  and  sandiest  portion  next  the 
Atlantic  was  thinly  covered  with  beach  -  grass 
and  indigo-weed.  Next  to  this  the  surface  of 
the  upland  generally  consisted  of  white  sand 
and  gravel,  like  coarse  salt,  through  which  a 
scanty  vegetation  found  its  way  up.  It  will 
give  an  ornithologist  some  idea  of  its  barrenness 
if  I  mention  that  the  next  June,  the  month  of 
grass,  I  found  a  night-hawk's  eggs  there,  and 
that  almost  any  square  rod  thereabouts,  taken 
at  random,  would  be  an  eligible  site  for  such  a 
deposit.  The  kildeer-plover,  which  loves  a  sim- 
ilar locality,  also  drops  its  eggs  there,  and  fills 
the  air  above  with  its  din.  This  upland  also 
produced  Cladonia  lichens,  poverty-grass, 
savory -leaved  aster  {Diplopappus  linariifolius\ 
mouse-ear,  bearberry,  etc.  On  a  few  hillsides 
the  savory-leaved  aster  and  mouse-ear  alone 
made  quite  a  dense  sward,  said  to  be  very  pretty 
when  the  aster  is  in  bloom.  In  some  parts  the 
two  species  of  poverty-grass  {Hudsonia  tomen- 
tosa  and  ericoides),  which  deserA^e  a  better 
name,  reign  for  miles  in  little  hemispherical 
tufts  or  islets,  like  moss,  scattered  over  the 
wast^.    They  linger  in  bloom  there  till  the  mid- 


ACROSS   THE   CAPE  IGl 

die  of  July.  Occasionally  near  the  beach  these 
rounded  beds,  as  also  those  of  the  sea-sandwort 
(Jrlonhenya  peploides),  were  filled  with  sand 
within  an  inch  of  their  tops,  and  were  hard,  like 
large  ant-hills,  while  the  surrounding  sand  was 
soft.  In  summer,  if  the  poverty -grass  grows  at 
the  head  of  a  Hollow  looking  toward  the  sea,  in 
a  bleak  position  where  the  wind  rushes  up,  the 
northern  or  exposed  half  of  the  tuft  is  some- 
times all  black  and  dead  like  an  oven-broom, 
while  the  opposite  half  is  yellow  with  blossoms, 
the  whole  hillside  thus  presenting  a  remarkable 
contrast  when  seen  from  the  poverty-stricken 
and  the  flourishing  side.  This  plant,  which  in 
many  places  would  be  esteemed  an  ornament,  is 
here  despised  by  many  on  account  of  its  being 
associated  with  barrenness.  It  might  well  be 
adopted  for  the  Barnstable  coat-of-arms,  in  a 
field  sahleux.  I  should  be  proud  of  it.  Here 
and  there  were  tracts  of  beach-grass  mingled 
with  the  seaside  golden  -  rod  and  beach  -  pea, 
which  reminded  us  still  more  forcibly  of  the 
ocean. 

We  read  that  there  was  not  a  brook  in  Truro. 
Yet  there  were  deer  here  once,  which  must  often 
have  panted  in  vain ;  but  I  am  pretty  sure  that 
I  afterward  saw  a  small  fresh-water  brook  emp- 
tying into  the  south  side  of  Pamet  River,  though 
I  was  so  heedless  as  not  to  taste  it.     At  any 


162  CAPE   COD 

rate,  a  little  boy  near  by  told  me  that  he  drank 
at  it.  There  was  not  a  tree  as  far  as  we  could 
see,  and  that  was  many  miles  each  way,  the 
general  level  of  the  upland  being  about  the  same 
everywhere.  Even  from  the  Atlantic  side  we 
overlooked  the  Bay,  and  saw  to  Manomet  Point 
in  Plymouth,  and  better  from  that  side  because 
it  was  the  highest.  The  ahnost  universal  bare- 
ness and  smoothness  of  the  landscajje  were  as 
agreeable  as  novel,  making  it  so  much  the  more 
like  the  deck  of  a  vessel.  We  saw  vessels  sail- 
ing south  into  the  Bay,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
north  along  the  Atlantic  shore,  on  the  other,  all 
with  an  aft  wind. 

The  single  road  which  runs  lengthwise  the 
Cape,  now  winding  over  the  plain,  now  through 
the  shrubbery  which  scrapes  the  wheels  of  the 
stage,  was  a  mere  cart-track,  in  the  sand,  com- 
monly without  any  fences  to  confine  it,  and  con- 
tinually changing  from  this  side  to  that,  to 
harder  ground,  or  sometimes  to  avoid  the  tide. 
But  the  inhabitants  travel  the  waste  here  and 
there  pilgrim-wise  and  staff  in  hand,  by  narrow 
footpaths,  through  which  the  sand  flows  out  and 
reveals  the  nakedness  of  the  land.  We  shud- 
dered at  the  thought  of  living  there  and  taking 
our  afternoon  walks  over  those  barren  swells, 
where  we  could  overlook  every  step  of  our  walk 
before  taking  it,  and  would  have  to  pray  for  a 


ACROSS   THE   CAPE  163 

fog  or  a   snow-storm  to   conceal  our   destiny. 
The  walker  there  must  soon  eat  his  heart. 

In  the  north  part  of  the  town  there  is  no 
house  from  shore  to  shore  for  several  miles,  and 
it  is  as  wild  and  solitary  as  the  Western  Prai- 
ries—  used  to  be.  Indeed,  one  who  has  seen 
every  house  in  Truro,  will  be  surprised  to  hear 
of  the  number  of  the  inhabitants,  but  perhaps 
five  hundred  of  the  men  and  boys  of  this  small 
town  were  then  abroad  on  their  fishing-grounds. 
Only  a  few  men  stay  at  home  to  till  the  sand  or 
watch  for  blacldish.  The  farmers  are  fisher- 
men-farmers and  understand  better  ploughing 
the  sea  than  the  land.  They  do  not  disturb  their 
sands  much,  though  there  is  a  plenty  of  sea-weed 
in  the  creeks,  to  say  nothing  of  blackfish  occa- 
sionally rotting  on  the  shore.  Between  the 
Pond  and  East  Harbor  Village  there  was  an  in- 
teresting plantation  of  pitch  -  pines,  twenty  or 
thirty  acres  in  extent,  like  those  which  we  had 
already  seen  from  the  stage.  One  who  lived 
near  said  that  the  land  was  purchased  by  two 
men  for  a  shilling  or  twenty -five  cents  an  acre. 
Some  is  not  considered  worth  writing  a  deed  for. 
This  soil  or  sand,  which  was  partially  covered 
with  poverty  and  beach  grass,  sorrel,  etc.,  was 
furrowed  at  intervals  of  about  four  feet  and  the 
seed  dropped  by  a  machine.  The  pines  had 
come   up    admirably   and  grown  the  first  year 


16-4  CAPE   COD 

three  or  four  inches,  and  the  second  six  inches 
and  more.  Where  the  seed  had  been  lately 
planted  the  white  sand  was  freshly  exposed  in 
an  endless  furrow  winding  round  and  round  the 
sides  of  the  deep  hollows  in  a  vortical,  spiral 
manner,  which  produced  a  very  singular  effect, 
as  if  you  were  looking  into  the  reverse  side  of  a 
vast  banded  shield.  This  exj^eriment,  so  im- 
portant to  the  Cape,  appeared  very  successful, 
and  perhaps  the  time  will  come  when  the  greater 
part  of  this  kind  of  land  in  Barnstable  County 
will  be  thus  covered  with  an  artificial  pine-for- 
est, as  has  been  done  in  some  parts  of  France. 
In  that  country  12,500  acres  of  downs  had  been 
thus  covered  in  1811  near  Bayonne.  They  are 
cabled  pig7iad as,  and  according  to  Loudon  "con- 
stitute the  principal  riches  of  the  inhabitants, 
where  there  was  a  drifting  desert  before."  It 
seemed  a  nobler  kind  of  grain  to  raise  than  corn 
even. 

A  few  years  ago  Truro  was  remarkable  among 
the  Cape  towns  for  the  nimiber  of  sheep  raised 
in  it ;  but  I  was  told  that  at  this  time  only  two 
men  kept  sheep  in  the  town,  and  in  1855,  a 
Truro  boy  ten  years  old  told  me  that  he  had 
never  seen  one.  They  were  formerly  pastured 
on  the  imfenced  lands  or  general  fields,  but  now 
the  owners  were  more  particular  to  assert  their 
rights,  and  it  cost  too  much  for  fencing.     The 


ACROSS   THE   CAPE  165 

rails  are  cedar  from  Maine,  and  two  rails  will 
answer  for  ordinary  purposes,  but  four  are  re- 
quired for  sheep.  This  was  the  reason  assigned 
by  one  who  had  formerly  kept  them  for  not 
keeping  them  any  longer.  Fencing  stuff  is  so 
expensive  that  I  saw  fences  made  with  only  one 
rail,  and  very  often  the  rail  when  split  was 
carefully  tied  with  a  string.  In  one  of  the  vil- 
lages I  saw  the  next  summer  a  cow  tethered  by 
a  rope  six  rods  long,  the  rope  long  in  proportion 
as  the  feed  was  short  and  thin.  Sixty  rods,  ay, 
all  the  cables  of  the  Cape,  would  have  been  no 
more  than  fair.  Tethered  in  the  desert  for  fear 
that  she  would  get  into  Arabia  Felix !  I  helped 
a  man  weigh  a  bundle  of  hay  which  he  was  sell- 
ing to  his  neighbor,  holding  one  end  of  a  pole 
from  which  it  swung  by  a  steel-yard  hook,  and 
this  was  just  half  his  whole  crop.  In  short,  the 
country  looked  so  barren  that  I  several  times 
refrained  from  asking  the  inhabitants  for  a 
string  or  a  piece  of  wrapping-paper,  for  fear  I 
should  rob  them,  for  they  plainly  were  obliged 
to  import  these  things  as  well  as  rails,  and  where 
there  were  no  news-boys,  I  did  not  see  what  they 
would  do  for  waste  paper. 

The  objects  around  us,  the  makeshifts  of  fish- 
ermen ashore,  often  made  us  look  down  to  see  if 
we  were  standing  on  terra  firma.  In  the  wells 
everywhere  a  block  and  tackle  were  used  to  raise 


166  CAPE   COD 

the  bucket,  instead  of  a  windlass,  and  by  almost 
every  house  was  laid  up  a  spar  or  a  plank  or  two 
full  of  auger-holes,  saved  from  a  wreck.  The 
windmills  were  partly  built  of  these,  and  they 
were  worked  into  the  public  bridges.  The  light- 
house keeper,  who  was  having  his  barn  shingled, 
told  me  casually  that  he  had  made  three  thou- 
sand good  shingles  for  that  purpose  out  of  a  mast. 
You  would  sometimes  see  an  old  oar  used  for  a 
rail.  Frequently  also  some  fair-weather  finery 
ripped  off  a  vessel  by  a  storm  near  the  coast  was 
nailed  uj)  against  an  outhouse.  I  saw  fastened 
to  a  shed  near  the  light-house  a  long  new  sign 
with  the  words  "Anglo  Saxon"  on  it  in  large 
gilt  letters,  as  if  it  were  a  useless  part  which  the 
ship  coidd  afford  to  lose,  or  which  the  sailors 
had  discharged  at  the  same  time  with  the  pilot. 
But  it  interested  somewhat  as  if  it  had  been  a 
part  of  the  Argo,  clipped  off  in  passing  thi-ough 
the  Symplegades. 

To  the  fisherman,  the  Cape  itself  is  a  sort  of 
store-ship  laden  with  supplies,  —  a  safer  and 
larger  craft  which  carries  the  women  and  chil- 
dren, the  old  men  and  the  sick,  and  indeed  sea- 
phrases  are  as  common  on  it  as  on  board  a  vessel. 
Thus  is  it  ever  with  a  sea-going  people.  The 
old  Northmen  used  to  speak  of  the  "keel-ridge  " 
of  the  country,  that  is,  the  ridge  of  the  Doffra- 
field  Mountains,  as  if  the  land  were  a  boat  turned 


ACROSS   THE  CAPE  167 

bottom  up.  I  was  frequently  reminded  of  the 
Northmen  here.  The  inhabitants  of  the  Cape 
are  often  at  once  farmers  and  sea-rovers ;  they 
are  more  than  vikings  or  kings  of  the  bays,  for 
their  sway  extends  over  the  open  sea  also.  A 
farmer  in  Wellfleet,  at  whose  house  I  afterward 
spent  a  night,  who  had  raised  fifty  bushels  of 
potatoes  the  previous  year,  which  is  a  large  crop 
for  the  Cape,  and  had  extensive  salt-works, 
pointed  to  his  schooner,  which  lay  in  sight,  in 
which  he  and  his  man  and  boy  occasionally  ran 
down  the  coast  a-trading  as  far  as  the  Capes  of 
Virginia.  This  was  his  market-cart,  and  his 
hired  man  knew  how  to  steer  her.  Thus  he 
drove  two  teams  a-field, 

"  ere  the  high  seas  appeared 
Under  the  opening  eyelids  of  the  morn." 

Though  probably  he  would  not  hear  much  of  the 
"gray-fly"  on  his  way  to  Virginia. 

A  great  proportion  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Cape  are  always  thus  abroad  about  their  team- 
ing on  some  ocean  highway  or  other,  and  the 
history  of  one  of  their  ordinary  trips  would  cast 
the  Argonautic  expedition  into  the  shade.  I 
have  just  heard  of  a  Cape  Cod  captain  who  was 
expected  home  in  the  beginning  of  the  winter 
from  the  West  Indies,  but  was  long  since  given 
up  for  lost,  till  his  relations  at  length  have 
heard  with  joy,  that,  after  getting  within  forty 


168  CAPE   COD 

miles  of  Cape  Cod  light,  he  was  driven  back  by 
nine  successive  gales  to  Key  West,  between 
Florida  and  Cuba,  and  was  once  again  shaping 
his  course  for  home.  Thus  he  spent  his  winter. 
In  ancient  times  the  adventures  of  these  two  or 
three  men  and  boys  would  have  been  made  the 
basis  of  a  myth,  but  now  such  tales  are  crowded 
into  a  line  of  shorthand  signs,  like  an  algebraic 
formula  in  the  shipping  news.  "Wherever 
over  the  world,"  said  Palfrey  in  his  oration  at 
Barnstable,  "you  see  the  stars  and  stripes  float- 
ing, you  may  have  good  hope  that  beneath  them 
some  one  will  be  found  who  can  tell  you  the 
soundings  of  Barnstable,  or  Wellfleet,  or 
Chatham  Harbor." 

I  passed  by  the  home  of  somebody's  (or  every- 
body's) Uncle  Bill,  one  day  over  on  the  Ply- 
mouth shore.  It  was  a  schooner  half  keeled  up 
on  the  mud;  we  aroused  the  master  out  of  a 
sound  sleep  at  noonday,  by  thumping  on  the 
bottom  of  his  vessel  till  he  presented  himself  at 
the  hatchway,  for  we  wanted  to  borrow  his 
clam-digger.  Meaning  to  make  him  a  call,  I 
looked  out  the  next  morning,  and  lo!  he  had 
run  over  to  "the  Pines"  the  evening  before, 
fearing  an  easterly  storm.  He  outrode  the 
great  gale  in  the  spring  of  1851,  dashing  about 
alone  in  Plymouth  Bay.  He  goes  after  rock- 
weed,  lighters  vessels,  and  saves  wrecks.     I  still 


ACROSS    THE   CAPE  169 

saw  him  lying  in  the  mud  over  at  "the  Pines" 
in  the  horizon,  which  place  he  could  not  leave  if 
he  would,  till  flood  tide.  But  he  would  not 
then  probably.  This  waiting  for  the  tide  is  a 
singular  feature  in  life  by  the  seashore.  A 
frequent  answer  is,  "Well!  you  can't  start  for 
two  hours  yet."  It  is  something  new  to  a  lands- 
man, and  at  first  he  is  not  disposed  to  wait. 
History  says  that  "two  inhabitants  of  Truro 
were  the  first  who  adventured  to  the  Falkland 
Isles  in  pursuit  of  whales.  This  voyage  was 
undertaken  in  the  year  1774,  by  the  advice  of 
Admiral  Montague  of  the  British  navy,  and  was 
crowned  with  success." 

At  the  Pond  Village  we  saw  a  pond  three 
eighths  of  a  mile  long  densely  filled  with  cat-tail 
flags,  seven  feet  high,  —  enough  for  all  the 
coopers  in  New  England. 

The  western  shore  was  nearly  as  sandy  as  the 
eastern,  but  the  water  was  much  smoother,  and 
the  bottom  was  partially  covered  with  the  slender 
grass-like  seaweed  {Zostera),  which  we  had  not 
seen  on  the  Atlantic  side;  there  were  also  a  few 
rude  sheds  for  trying  fish  on  the  beach  there, 
which  made  it  appear  less  wild.  In  the  few 
marshes  on  this  side  we  afterward  saw  Sam- 
phire, Rosemary,  and  other  plants  new  to  us  in- 
landers. 

In  the  summer  and  fall  sometimes,  hundreds 


170  CAPE   COD 

of  blackfish  (the  Social  Whale,  Glohicephalus 
7nclas  of  De  Kay ;  called  also  Black  Whale-fish, 
Howling  Whale,  Bottle-head,  etc.),  fifteen  feet 
or  more  in  length,  are  driven  ashore  in  a  single 
school  here.  I  witnessed  such  a  scene  in  July, 
1855.  A  carpenter  who  was  working  at  the 
light-house  arriving  early  in  the  morning  re- 
marked that  he  did  not  know  but  he  had  lost 
fifty  dollars  by  coming  to  his  work;  for  as  he 
came  along  the  Bay  side  he  heard  them  driving 
a  school  of  blackfish  ashore,  and  he  had  debated 
with  himself  whether  he  should  not  go  and  join 
them  and  take  his  share,  but  had  concluded  to 
come  to  his  work.  After  breakfast  I  came  over 
to  this  place,  about  two  miles  distant,  and  near 
the  beach  met  some  of  the  fishermen  returning 
from  their  chase.  Looking  up  and  down  the 
shore,  I  could  see  about  a  mile  south  some  large 
black  masses  on  the  sand,  which  I  knew  must  be 
blackfish,  and  a  man  or  two  about  them.  As  I 
walked  along  towards  them  I  soon  came  to  a 
large  carcass  whose  head  was  gone  and  whose 
blubber  had  been  stripped  off  some  weeks  be- 
fore; the  tide  was  just  beginning  to  move  it, 
and  the  stench  compelled  me  to  go  a  long  way 
round.  When  I  came  to  Great  Hollow  I  found 
a  fisherman  and  some  boys  on  the  watch,  and 
counted  about  thirty  blackfish,  just  killed,  with 
many  lance  wounds,  and  the  water  was  more  or 


ACROSS   THE   CAPE  171 

less  bloody  around.  They  were  partly  on  shore 
and  partly  in  the  water,  held  by  a  rope  round 
their  tails  till  the  tide  should  leave  them.  A 
boat  had  been  somewhat  stove  by  the  tail  of 
one.  They  were  a  smooth,  shining  black,  like 
India-rubber,  and  had  remarkably  simple  and 
lumpish  forms  for  animated  creatures,  with  a 
blunt  round  snout  or  head,  whale-like,  and  simple 
stiff-looking  flippers.  The  largest  were  about 
fifteen  feet  long,  but  one  or  two  were  only  five 
feet  long,  and  still  without  teeth.  The  fisher- 
man slashed  one  with  his  jackknife,  to  show  me 
how  thick  the  blubber  was,  —  about  three 
inches ;  and  as  I  passed  my  finger  through  the 
cut  it  was  covered  thick  with  oil.  The  blubber 
looked  like  pork,  and  this  man  said  that  when 
they  were  trying  it  the  boys  would  sometimes 
come  round  with  a  piece  of  bread  in  one  hand, 
and  take  a  piece  of  blubber  in  the  other  to  eat 
with  it,  preferring  it  to  pork  scraps.  He  also 
cut  into  the  flesh  beneath,  which  was  firm  and 
red  like  beef,  and  he  said  that  for  his  part  he 
preferred  it  when  fresh  to  beef.  It  is  stated 
that  in  1812  blackfish  were  used  as  food  by  the 
poor  of  Bretagne.  They  were  waiting  for  the 
tide  to  leave  these  fishes  high  and  dry,  that  they 
might  strip  off  the  blubber  and  carry  it  to  their 
try- works  in  their  boats,  where  they  try  it  on 
the  beach.     They  get  commonly  a  barrel  of  oil, 


172  CAPE   COD 

worth  fifteen  or  twenty  dollars,  to  a  fish.  There 
wei'e  many  lances  and  harpoons  in  the  boats,  — 
much  slenderer  instruments  than  I  had  expected. 
An  old  man  came  along  the  beach  with  a  horse 
and  wagon  distributing  the  dinners  of  the  fisher- 
men, which  their  wives  had  put  up  in  little  pails 
and  jugs,  and  which  he  had  collected  in  the 
Pond  Village,  and  for  this  service,  I  suppose, 
he  received  a  share  of  the  oil.  If  one  could  not 
tell  his  own  pail,»he  took  the  first  he  came  to. 

As  I  stood  there  they  raised  the  cry  of  "an- 
other school,"  and  we  could  see  their  black 
backs  and  their  blowing  about  a  mile  north- 
ward, as  they  went  leaping  over  the  sea  like 
horses.  Some  boats  were  already  in  pursuit 
there,  driving  them  toward  the  beach.  Other 
fishermen  and  boys  running  up  began  to  jump 
into  the  boats  and  push  them  off  from  where  I 
stood,  and  I  might  have  gone  too  had  I  chosen. 
Soon  there  were  twenty -five  or  thirty  boats  in 
pursuit,  some  large  ones  under  sail,  and  others 
rowing  with  might  and  main,  keeping  outside  of 
the  school,  those  nearest  to  the  fishes  striking  on 
the  sides  of  their  boats  and  blowing  horns  to  drive 
them  on  to  the  beach.  It  was  an  exciting  race. 
If  they  succeed  in  driving  them  ashore  each  boat 
takes  one  share,  and  then  each  man,  but  if  they 
are  compelled  to  strike  them  off  shore  each 
boat's    company    take    what     they    strike.     I 


ACROSS   THE   CAPE  173 

walked  rapidly  along  the  shore  toward  the  north, 
while  the  fishermen  were  rowing  still  more 
swiftly  to  join  their  companions,  and  a  little  boy 
who  walked  by  my  side  was  congratulating  him- 
self that  his  father's  boat  was  beating  another 
one.  An  old  blind  fisherman  whom  we  met, 
inquired,  "Where  are  they,  I  can't  see.  Have 
they  got  them?"  In  the  mean  while  the  fishes 
had  turned  and  were  escaping  northward  toward 
Provincetown,  only  occasionally  the  back  of  one 
being  seen.  So  the  nearest  crews  were  com- 
jjelled  to  strike  them,  and  we  saw  several  boats 
soon  made  fast,  each  to  its  fish,  which,  four  or 
five  rods  ahead,  was  drawing  it  like  a  race-horse 
straight  toward  the  beach,  leaping  half  out  of 
water  blowing  blood  and  water  from  its  hole, 
and  leaving  a  streak  of  foam  behind.  But  they 
went  ashore  too  far  north  for  us,  though  we 
could  see  the  fishermen  leap  out  and  lance  them 
on  the  sand.  It  was  just  like  pictures  of  whal- 
ing which  I  have  seen,  and  a  fishei'man  told  me 
that  it  was  nearly  as  dangerous.  In  his  first 
trial  he  had  been  much  excited,  and  in  his  haste 
had  used  a  lance  with  its  scabbard  on,  but  nev- 
ertheless had  thrust  it  quite  through  his  fish. 

I  learned  that  a  few  days  before  this  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty  blackfish  had  been  driven  ashore 
in  one  school  at  Eastham,  a  little  farther  south, 
and  that  the  keeper  of  Billingsgate  Point  light 


174  CAPE   COD 

went  out  one  morning  about  the  same  time  and 
cut  his  initials  on  the  backs  of  a  large  school 
which  had  run  ashore  in  the  night,  and  sold  his 
right  to  them  to  Provincetown  for  one  thousand 
dollars,  and  probably  Provincetown  made  as 
much  more.  Another  fisherman  told  me  that 
nineteen  years  ago  three  hundred  and  eighty 
were  driven  ashore  in  one  school  at  Great  Hol- 
low. In  the  Naturalists'  Library,  it  is  said 
that,  in  the  winter  of  1809-10,  one  thousand 
one  hundred  and  ten  "approached  the  shore  of 
Hralfiord,  Iceland,  and  were  captured."  De 
Kay  says  it  is  not  known  why  they  are  stranded. 
But  one  fisherman  declared  to  me  that  they  ran 
ashore  in  pursuit  of  squid,  and  that  they  gener- 
ally came  on  the  coast  about  the  last  of  July. 

About  a  week  afterward,  when  I  came  to  this 
shore,  it  was  strewn,  as  far  as  I  could  see  with  a 
glass,  with  the  carcasses  of  blackfish  stripped 
of  their  blubber  and  their  heads  cut  off;  the 
latter  lying  higher  up.  Walking  on  the  beach 
was  out  of  the  question  on  account  of  the  stench. 
Between  Provincetown  and  Truro  they  lay  in 
the  very  path  of  the  stage.  Yet  no  steps  were 
taken  to  abate  the  nuisance,  and  men  were 
catching  lobsters  as  usual  just  off  the  shore.  I 
was  told  that  they  did  sometimes  tow  them  out 
and  sink  them ;  yet  I  wondered  where  they  got 
the  stones  to  sink  them  with.     Of  course  they 


ACROSS   THE   CAPE  175 

might  be  made  into  guano,  and  Cape  Cod  is  not 
so  fertile  that  her  inhabitants  can  afford  to  do 
without  this  manure,  —  to  say  nothing  of  the 
diseases  they  may  produce. 

After  my  return  home,  wishing  to  learn  what 
was  known  about  the  Blackfish,  I  had  recourse  to 
the  reports  of  the  zoological  surveys  of  the  State, 
and  I  found  that  Storer  had  rightfully  omitted 
it  in  his  Report  on  the  Fishes,  since  it  is  not  a 
fish;  so  I  turned  to  Emmons's  Report  of  the 
Mammalia,  but  was  surprised  to  find  that  the 
seals  and  whales  were  omitted  by  him  because 
he  had  had  no  opportunity  to  observe  them. 
Considering  how  this  State  has  risen  and  thriven 
by  its  fisheries,  —  that  the  legislature  which  au- 
thorized the  Zoological  Survey  sat  under  the 
emblem  of  a  codfish,  —  that  Nantucket  and  New 
Bedford  are  within  our  limits,  —  that  an  early 
riser  may  find  a  thousand  or  fifteen  hundred 
dollars'  worth  of  blackfish  on  the  shore  in  a 
morning,  —  that  the  Pilgrims  saw  the  Indians 
cutting  up  a  blackfish  on  the  shore  at  Eastham, 
and  called  apart  of  that  shore  "Grampus  Bay," 
from  the  number  of  blackfish  they  found  there, 
before  they  got  to  Plymouth,  —  and  that  from 
that  time  to  this  these  fishes  have  continued  to 
enrich  one  or  two  counties  almost  annually,  and 
that  their  decaying  carcasses  were  now  poison- 
ing the  air  of  one  county  for  more  than  thirty 


17G  CAPE   COD 

miles,  —  T  thought  it  remarkable  that  neither 
the  popular  nor  scientific  name  was  to  be  found 
in  a  report  on  our  mammalia,  —  a  catalogue  of 
the  productions  of  our  land  and  water. 

We  had  here,  as  well  as  all  across  the  Cape, 
a  fair  view  of  Provincetown,  five  or  six  miles 
distant  over  the  water  toward  the  west,  under 
its  shrubby  sand-hills,  with  its  harbor  now  full 
of  vessels  whose  masts  mingled  with  the  spires 
of  its  churches,  and  gave  it  the  apj)earance  of  a 
quite  large  seaport  town. 

The  inhabitants  of  all  the  lower  Cape  towns 
enjoy  thus  the  prospect  of  two  seas.  Standing 
on  the  western  or  larboard  shore,  and  looking 
across  to  where  the  distant  mainland  looms, 
they  can  say.  This  is  Massachusetts  Bay;  and 
then,  after  an  hour's  sauntering  walk,  they  may 
stand  on  the  starboard  side,  beyond  which  no 
land  is  seen  to  loom,  and  say,  This  is  the  Atlan- 
tic Ocean. 

On  our  way  back  to  the  light-house,  by  whose 
whitewashed  tower  we  steered  as  securely  as 
the  mariner  by  its  light  at  night,  we  passed 
through  a  graveyard,  which  apparently  was 
saved  from  being  blown  away  by  its  slates,  for 
they  had  enabled  a  thick  bed  of  huckleberry 
bushes  to  root  themselves  amid  the  graves.  We 
thought  it  would  be  worth  the  while  to  read  the 
epitaphs  where  so  many  were  lost  at  sea ;  how- 


ACROSS   THE   CAPE  177 

ever,  as  not  only  their  lives,  but  commonly 
their  bodies  also,  were  lost  or  not  identified, 
there  were  fewer  epitaphs  of  this  sort  than  we 
expected,  though  there  were  not  a  few.  Their 
graveyard  is  the  ocean.  Near  the  eastern  side 
we  started  up  a  fox  in  a  hollow,  the  only  kind 
of  wild  quadruped,  if  I  except  a  skunk  in  a  salt- 
marsh,  that  we  saw  in  all  our  walk  (unless 
painted  and  box  tortoises  may  be  called  quad- 
rupeds). He  was  a  large,  plump,  shaggy  fel- 
low, like  a  yellow  dog,  with,  as  usual,  a  white 
tip  to  his  tail,  and  looked  as  if  he  had  fared  well 
on  the  Cape.  He  cantered  away  into  the  shrub- 
oaks  and  bay  berry  bushes  which  chanced  to 
grow  there,  but  were  hardly  high  enough  to  con- 
ceal him.  I  saw  another  the  next  summer  leap- 
ing over  the  top  of  a  beach-plum  a  little  farther 
north,  a  small  arc  of  his  course  (which  I  trust  is 
not  yet  run),  from  which  I  endeavored  in  vain 
to  calculate  his  whole  orbit;  there  were  too 
many  unknown  attractions  to  be  allowed  for.  I 
also  saw  the  exuviae  of  a  third  fast  sinking  into 
the  sand,  atid  added  the  skull  to  my  collection. 
Hence,  I  concluded  that  they  must  be  plenty 
thereabouts ;  but  a  traveler  may  meet  with  more 
than  an  inhabitant,  since  he  is  more  likely  to 
take  an  unfrequented  route  across  the  country. 
They  told  me  that  in  some  years  they  died  off 
in  great  numbers  by  a  kind  of  madness,  under 


178  CAPE   COD 

the  effect  of  which  they  were  seen  whirling 
round  and  round  as  if  in  pursuit  of  their  tails. 
In  Crantz's  account  of  Greenland,  he  says, 
"  They  (the  foxes)  live  upon  birds  and  their  eggs, 
and,  when  they  can't  get  them,  upon  crow-ber- 
ries, mussels,  crabs,  and  what  the  sea  casts  up." 
Just  before  reaching  the  light-house,  we  saw 
the  sun  set  in  the  Ba}^  —  for  standing  on  that 
narrow  Cape  was,  as  I  have  said,  like  being  on 
the  deck  of  a  vessel,  or  rather  at  the  masthead 
of  a  man-of-war,  thirty  miles  at  sea,  though  we 
knew  that  at  the  same  moment  the  sun  was  set- 
ting behind  our  native  hills,  which  were  just  be- 
low the  horizon  in  that  direction.  This  sight 
drove  everything  else  quite  out  of  our  heads, 
and  Homer  and  the  Ocean  came  in  again  with  a 
rush,  — 

the  shining  torch  of  the  sun  fell  into  the  ocean. 


VIII 

THE  HIGHLAND   LIGHT 

This  light-house,  known  to  mariners  as  the 
Cape  Cod  or  Highland  Light,  is  one  of  our 
"primary  sea-coast  lights,"  and  is  usually  the 
first  seen  by  those  approaching  the  entrance  of 
Massachusetts  Bay  from  Europe.  It  is  forty- 
three  miles  from  Cape  Ann  Light,  and  forty- 
one  from  Boston  Light.  It  stands  about  twenty 
rods  from  the  edge  of  the  bank,  which  is  here 
formed  of  clay.  I  borrowed  the  plane  and 
square,  level  and  dividers,  of  a  carpenter  who 
was  shingling  a  barn  near  by,  and,  using  one  of 
those  shingles  made  of  a  mast,  contrived  a  rude 
sort  of  quadi'ant,  with  pins  for  sights  and  pivots, 
and  got  the  angle  of  elevation  of  the  Bank  op- 
posite the  light-house,  and  with  a  couple  of  cod- 
lines  the  length  of  its  slope,  and  so  measured  its 
height  on  the  shingle.  It  rises  one  hundred  and 
ten  feet  above  its  immediate  base,  or  about  one 
hundred  and  twenty-three  feet  above  mean  low 
water.  Graham,  who  has  carefully  surveyed 
the  extremity  of  the  Cape,  makes  it  one  hundred 
and  thirty  feet.     The  mixed  sand  and  clay  lay 


180  CAPE   COD 

at  an  angle  of  forty  degrees  with  the  horizon, 
where  I  measured  it,  but  the  clay  is  generally 
much  steeper.  No  cow  nor  hen  ever  gets  down 
it.  Half  a  mile  farther  south  the  bank  is  fif- 
teen or  twenty-five  feet  higher,  and  that  ap- 
peared to  be  the  highest  land  in  North  Truro. 
Even  this  vast  clay  bank  is  fast  wearing  away. 
Small  streams  of  water  trickling  down  it  at  in- 
tervals of  two  or  three  rods,  have  left  the  inter- 
mediate clay  in  the  form  of  steep  Gothic  roofs 
fifty  feet  high  or  more,  the  ridges  as  sharp  and 
rugged-looking  as  rocks;  and  in  one  place  the 
bank  is  curiously  eaten  out  in  the  form  of  a 
large  semi-cixcular  crater. 

According  to  the  light-house  keeper,  the  Cape 
is  wasting  here  on  both  sides,  though  most  on  the 
eastern.  In  some  places  it  had  lost  many  rods 
within  the  last  year,  and,  erelong,  the  light- 
house must  be  moved.  We  calculated,  from 
his  data,  how  soon  the  Cape  would  be  quite 
worn  away  at  this  point,  "for,"  said  he,  "I  can 
remember  sixty  years  back."  We  were  even 
more  surprised  at  this  last  announcement  — 
that  is,  at  the  slow  waste  of  life  and  energy  in 
our  informant,  for  we  had  taken  him  to  be  not 
more  than  forty  —  than  at  the  rapid  wasting  of 
the  Cape,  and  we  thought  that  he  stood  a  fair 
chance  to  outlive  the  former. 

Between  this  October  and  June  of  the  next 


THE  HIGHLAND  LIGHT  181 

year,  I  found  that  the  bank  had  lost  about  forty 
feet  in  one  place,  opposite  the  light-house,  and 
it  was  cracked  more  than  forty  feet  farther  from 
the  edge  at  the  last  date,  the  shore  being  strewn 
with  the  recent  rubbish.  But  I  judged  that 
generally  it  was  not  wearing  away  here  at  the 
rate  of  more  than  six  feet  annually.  Any  con- 
clusions drawn  from  the  observations  of  a  few 
years,  or  one  generation  only,  are  likely  to  prove 
false,  and  the  Cape  may  balk  expectation  by  its 
durability.  In  some  places  even  a  wrecker's 
foot-path  down  the  bank  lasts  several  years. 
One  old  inhabitant  told  us  that  when  the  light- 
house was  built,  in  1798,  it  was  calculated  that 
it  would  stand  forty-five  years,  allowing  the 
bank  to  waste  one  length  of  fence  each  year, 
"but,"  said  he,  "there  it  is"  (or  rather  another 
near  the  same  site,  about  twenty  rods  from  the 
edge  of  the  bank). 

The  sea  is  not  gaining  on  the  Cape  every- 
where, for  one  man  told  me  of  a  vessel  wrecked 
long  ago  on  the  north  of  Provincetown  whose 
"Sowes"  (this  was  his  word)  are  still  visible 
many  rods  within  the  present  line  of  the  beach, 
half  buried  in  sand.  Perchance  they  lie  along- 
side the  timbers  of  a  whale.  The  general  state- 
ment of  the  inhabitants  is,  that  the  Cape  is 
wasting  on  both  sides,  but  extending  itself  on 
particular  points  on  the  south  and  west,  as  at 


182  CAPE   COD 

Chatham  and  Monomoy  Beaches,  and  at  Bil- 
lingsgate, Long,  and  Race  Points.  James  Free- 
man stated  in  his  day  that  above  three  miles 
had  been  added  to  Monomoy  Beach  during  the 
previous  fifty  years,  and  it  is  said  to  be  still  ex- 
tending as  fast  as  ever.  A  writer  in  the  Massa- 
chusetts Magazine,  in  the  last  century,  tells  us 
that  "when  the  English  first  settled  upon  the 
Cape,  there  was  an  island  off  Chatham,  at  three 
leagues'  distance,  called  Webb's  Island,  con- 
taining twenty  acres,  covered  with  red-cedar  or 
savin.  The  inhabitants  of  Nantucket  used  to 
carry  wood  from  it;"  but  he  adds  that  in  his 
day  a  large  rock  alone  marked  the  spot,  and  the 
water  was  six  fathoms  deep  there.  The  en- 
trance to  Nauset  Harbor,  which  was  once  in 
Eastham,  has  now  traveled  south  into  Orleans. 
The  islands  in  Wellfleet  Harbor  once  formed  a 
continuous  beach,  though  now  small  vessels  pass 
between  them.  And  so  of  many  other  parts  of 
this  coast. 

Perhaps  what  the  Ocean  takes  from  one  part 
of  the  Cape  it  gives  to  another,  —  robs  Peter  to 
pay  Paul.  On  the  eastern  side  the  sea  appears 
to  be  everywhere  encroaching  on  the  land.  Not 
only  the  land  is  undermined,  and  its  ruins  car- 
ried off  by  currents,  but  the  sand  in  blown  from 
the  beach  directly  up  the  steep  bank,  where  it  is 
one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high,  and  covers  the 


THE  HIGHLAND  LIGHT  183 

original  surface  there  many  feet  deep.  If  you 
sit  on  the  edge  you  will  have  ocular  demonstra- 
tion of  this  by  soon  getting  your  eyes  full. 
Thiis  the  bank  preserves  its  height  as  fast  as  it 
is  worn  away.  This  sand  is  steadily  traveling 
westward  at  a  rapid  rate,  "more  than  a  hundred 
yards,"  says  one  writer,  within  the  memoiy  of 
inhabitants  now  living;  so  that  in  some  places 
peat-meadows  are  buried  deep  under  the  sand, 
and  the  peat  is  cut  through  it;  and  in  one  place 
a  large  peat-meadow  has  made  its  appearance 
on  the  shore  in  the  bank  covered  many  feet  deep, 
and  peat  has  been  cut  there.  This  accounts  for 
that  great  pebble  of  peat  which  we  saw  in  the 
surf.  The  old  oysterman  had  told  us  that  many 
years  ago  he  lost  a  "crittur"  by  her  being 
mired  in  a  swamp  near  the  Atlantic  side  east  of 
his  house,  and  twenty  years  ago  he  lost  the 
swamp  itself  entirely,  but  has  since  seen  signs 
of  it  appearing  on  the  beach.  He  also  said  that 
he  had  seen  cedar  stumps  "as  big  as  cart- 
wheels"(!)  on  the  bottom  of  the  Bay,  three 
miles  off  Billingsgate  Point,  when  leaning  over 
the  side  of  his  boat  in  pleasant  weather,  and 
that  that  was  dry  land  not  long  ago.  Another 
told  us  that  a  log  canoe  known  to  have  been 
buried  many  years  before  on  the  Bay  side  at 
East  Harbor  in  Truro,  where  the  Cape  is  ex- 
tremely narrow,  appeared  at  length  on  the  At- 


184  CAPE   COD 

lantic  side,  the  Cape  having  rolled  over  it,  and 
an  old  woman  said,  —  "  Now,  you  see,  it  is  true 
what  I  told  you,  that  the  Cape  is  moving." 

The  bars  along  the  coast  shift  with  every 
storm,  and  in  many  places  there  is  occasionally 
none  at  all.  We  ourselves  observed  the  effect 
of  a  single  storm  with  a  high  tide  in  the  night, 
in  July,  1855.  It  moved  the  sand  on  the  beach 
opposite  the  light-house  to  the  depth  of  six  feet, 
and  three  rods  in  width  as  far  as  we  could  see 
north  and  south,  and  carried  it  bodily  off  no  one 
knows  exactly  where,  laying  bare  in  one  place  a 
large  rock  five  feet  high  which  was.  invisible  be- 
fore, and  narrowing  the  beach  to  that  extent. 
There  is  usually,  as  I  have  said,  no  bathing  on 
the  back  side  of  the  Cape,  on  account  of  the  un- 
dertow, but  when  we  were  there  last,  the  sea 
had,  three  months  before,  cast  up  a  bar  near  this 
light-house,  two  miles  long  and  ten  rods  wide, 
over  which  the  tide  did  not  flow,  leaving  a  nar- 
row cove,  then  a  quarter  of  a  mile  long,  between 
it  and  the  shore,  which  afforded  excellent  bath- 
ing. This  cove  had  from  time  to  time  been 
closed  up  as  the  bar  traveled  northward,  in  one 
instance  imprisoning  four  or  five  hundred  whit- 
ing and  cod,  which  died  there,  and  the  water  as 
often  turned  fresh  and  finally  gave  place  to 
sand.  This  bar,  the  inhabitants  assured  us, 
might  be  wholly  removed,  and  the  water  six  feet 
deep  there  in  two  or  three  days. 


THE  HIGHLAND  LIGHT  185 

The  light-bouse  keej)er  said  that  when  the 
wind  blowed  strong  on  to  the  shore,  the  waves 
ate  fast  into  the  bank,  but  when  it  blowed  off 
they  took  no  sand  away ;  for  in  the  former  case 
the  wind  heaped  uj)  the  surface  of  the  water  next 
to  the  beach,  and  to  preserve  its  equilibrium  a 
strong  undertow  immediately  set  back  again  into 
the  sea  which  carried  with  it  the  sand  and  what- 
ever else  was  in  the  way,  and  left  the  beach 
hard  to  walk  on ;  but  in  the  latter  case  the  un- 
dertow set  on,  and  carried  the  sand  with  it,  so 
that  it  was  particularly  difficult  for  shipwrecked 
men  to  get  to  land  when  the  wind  blowed  on  to 
the  shore,  but  easier  when  it  blowed  off.  This 
undertow,  meeting  the  next  surface  wave  on  the 
bar  which  itself  has  made,  forms  part  of  the  dam 
over  which  the  latter  breaks,  as  over  an  upright 
wall.  The  sea  thus  plays  with  the  land  holding 
a  sand-bar  in  its  mouth  awhile  before  it  swallows 
it,  as  a  cat  plays  with  a  mouse;  but  the  fatal 
gripe  is  sure  to  come  at  last.  The  sea  sends  its 
rapacious  east  wind  to  rob  the  land,  but  before 
the  former  has  got  far  with  its  prey,  the  land 
sends  its  honest  west  wind  to  recover  some  of  its 
own.  But,  according  to  Lieutenant  Davis,  the 
forms,  extent,  and  distribution  of  sand-bars  and 
banks  are  principally  determined,  not  by  winds 
and  waves,  but  by  tides. 

Our  host  said  that  you  would  be  surprised  if 


186  CAPE   COD 

you  were  on  the  beach  when  the  wind  blew  a 
hurricane  directly  on  to  it,  to  see  that  none  of 
the  drift-wood  came  ashore,  but  all  was  carried 
directly  northward  and  parallel  with  the  shore 
as  fast  as  a  man  can  walk,  by  the  inshore  cur- 
rent, which  sets  strongly  in  that  direction  at 
flood  tide.  The  strongest  swimmers  also  are 
carried  along  with  it,  and  never  gain  an  inch 
toward  the  beach.  Even  a  large  rock  has  been 
moved  half  a  mile  northward  along  the  beach. 
He  assured  us  that  the  sea  was  never  still  on 
the  back  side  of  the  Cape,  but  ran  commonly  as 
high  as  your  head,  so  that  a  great  part  of  the 
time  you  could  not  launch  a  boat  there,  and 
even  in  the  calmest  weather  the  waves  run  six 
or  eight  feet  up  the  beach,  though  then  you 
coidd  get  off  on  a  plank.  Champlain  and  Pour- 
trincourt  could  not  land  here  in  1606,  on  ac- 
count of  the  swell  (la  houUe),  yet  the  savages 
came  off  to  them  in  a  canoe.  In  the  Sieur  de 
la  Borde's  "Relation  des  Caraibes,"  my  edition 
of  which  was  published  at  Amsterdam  in  1711, 
at  page  530  he  says :  — 

"Couroumon  a  Caraibe,  also  a  star  \i.  e.  a 
god]  makes  the  great  lames  a  la  mer,  and  over- 
turns canoes.  Lames  a  la  mer  are  the  long 
vague s  which  are  not  broken  (entrecoupees^  and 
such  as  one  sees  come  to  land  all  in  one  piece, 
from  one  end  of  a  beach  to  another,  so  that, 


THE  HIGHLAND  LIGHT  187 

however  little  wind  thei-e  may  be,  a  shallop  or 
a  canoe  could  hardly  land  {ahorder  terre)  with- 
out tui-ning  over,  or  being  filled  with  water." 

But  on  the  Bay  side  the  water  even  at  its  edge 
is  often  as  smooth  and  still  as  in  a  pond.  Com- 
monly there  are  no  boats  used  along  this  beach. 
There  was  a  boat  belonging  to  the  Highland 
Light  which  the  next  keeper  after  he  had  been 
there  a  year  had  not  launched,  though  he  said 
that  there  was  good  fishing  just  off  the  shore. 
Generally  the  life  boats  cannot  be  used  when 
needed.  When  the  waves  run  very  high  it  is 
impossible  to  get  a  boat  off,  however  skillfully 
you  steer  it,  for  it  will  often  be  completely  cov- 
ered by  the  curving  edge  of  the  approaching 
breaker  as  by  an  arch,  and  so  filled  with  water, 
or  it  will  be  lifted  up  by  its  bows,  turned  di- 
rectly over  backwards  and  all  the  contents 
spilled  out.  A  spar  thirty  feet  long  is  served 
in  the  same  way. 

I  heard  of  a  party  who  went  off  fishing  back 
of  Wellfleet  some  years  ago,  in  two  boats,  in 
calm  weather,  who,  when  they  had  laden  their 
boats  with  fish,  and  approached  the  land  again, 
found  such  a  swell  breaking  on  it,  though  there 
was  no  wind,  that  they  were  afraid  to  enter  it. 
At  first  they  thought  to  pull  for  Provincetown, 
but  night  was  coming  on,  and  that  was  many 
miles  distant.     Their  case  seemed  a  desperate 


188  CAPE   COD 

one.  As  often  as  they  approached  the  shore  and 
saw  the  terrible  breakers  that  intervened,  they 
were  deterred,  in  short,  they  were  thoroughly 
frightened.  Finally,  having  thrown  their  fish 
overboard,  those  in  one  boat  chose  a  favorable 
opi^ortunity,  and  succeeded,  by  skill  and  good 
luck,  in  reaching  the  land,  but  they  were  unwill- 
ing to  take  the  responsibility  of  telling  the 
others  when  to  come  in,  and  as  the  other  helms- 
man was  inexperienced,  their  boat  was  swamped 
at  once,  yet  all  managed  to  save  themselves. 

Much  smaller  waves  soon  make  a  boat  "nail- 
sick,"  as  the  phrase  is.  The  keeper  said  that 
after  a  long  and  strong  blow  there  would  be 
three  large  waves,  each  successively  larger  than 
the  last,  and  then  no  large  ones  for  some  time, 
and  that,  when  they  wished  to  land  in  a  boat, 
they  came  in  on  the  last  and  largest  wave.  Sir 
Thomas  Browne  (as  quoted  in  Brand's  Popular 
Antiquities,  p.  372),  on  the  subject  of  the  tenth 
wave  beinsf  "gfreater  or  more  dangerous  than 
any  other,"  after  quoting  Ovid,  — 

"  Qui  venit  hie  fluctiis,  fluctus  supereminet  omnes 
Posterior  none  est,  undecimo  que  prior,"  — 

says,  "Which,  notwithstanding,  is  evidently 
false ;  nor  can  it  be  made  out  either  by  observa- 
tion either  upon  the  shore  or  the  ocean,  as  we 
have  with  diligence  explored  in  both.  And 
surely  in  vain  we  expect  regularity  in  the  waves 


THE  HIGHLAND  LIGHT  189 

of  the  sea,  or  in  the  particular  motions  thereof, 
as  we  may  in  its  general  reciprocations,  whose 
causes  are  constant,  and  effects  therefore  corre- 
spondent; whereas  its  fluctuations  are  but  mo- 
tions subservient,  which  winds,  storms,  shores, 
shelves,  and  every  interjacency,  irregulates." 

We  read  that  the  Clay  Pounds  were  so  called, 
"because  vessels  have  had  the  misfortune  to  be 
pounded  against  it  in  gales  of  wind,"  which  we 
regard  as  a  doubtful  derivation.  There  are 
small  ponds  here,  upheld  by  the  clay,  which 
were  formerly  called  the  Clay  Pits.  Perhaps 
this,  or  Clay  Ponds,  is  the  origin  of  the  name. 
Water  is  found  in  the  clay  quite  near  the  sur- 
face ;  but  we  heard  of  one  man  who  had  sunk 
a  well  in  the  sand  close  by,  "till  he  could  see 
stars  at  noonday,"  without  finding  any.  Over 
this  bare  Highland  the  wind  has  full  sweep. 
Even  in  July  it  blows  the  wings  over  the  heads 
of  the  young  turkeys,  which  do  not  know  enough 
to  head  against  it ;  and  in  gales  the  doors  and 
windows  are  blown  in,  and  you  must  hold  on  to 
the  light-house  to  prevent  being  blown  into  the 
Atlantic.  They  who  merely  keep  out  on  the 
beach  in  a  storm  in  the  winter  are  sometimes 
rewarded  by  the  Humane  Society.  If  you 
would  feel  the  full  force  of  a  tempest,  take  up 
your  residence  on  the  top  of  Mount  Washington, 
or  at  the  Highland  Light,  in  Truro. 


190  CAPE   COD 

It  was  said  in  1794  that  more  vessels  were 
cast  away  on  the  east  shore  of  Truro  than  any- 
where in  Barnstable  County.  Notwithstanding 
that  this  light-house  has  since  been  erected,  after 
ahnost  every  storm  we  read  of  one  or  more  ves- 
sels wrecked  here,  and  sometimes  more  than  a 
dozen  wrecks  are  visible  from  this  point  at  one 
time.  The  inhabitants  hear  the  crash  of  vessels 
going  to  pieces  as  they  sit  round  their  hearths, 
and  they  commonly  date  from  some  memorable 
shipwreck.  If  the  history  of  this  beach  could 
be  written  from  beginning  to  end,  it  would  be  a 
thrilling  page  in  the  history  of  commerce. 

Truro  was  settled  in  the  year  1700  as  Danger- 
field.  This  was  a  very  appropriate  name,  for  I 
afterward  read  on  a  monument  in  the  grave- 
yard, near  Pamet  Kiver,  the  following  inscrip- 
tion :  — 

Sacred 

to  the  memory  of 

57  citizens  of  Truro, 

■who  were  lost  in  seven 

vessels,  which 

foundered  at  sea  in 

the  memorable  gale 

of  Oct.  3d,  1841. 

Their  names  and  ages  by  families  were  recorded 
on  different  sides  of  the  stone.  They  are  said 
to  have  been  lost  on  George's  Bank,  and  I  was 
told  that  only  one  vessel  drifted  ashore  on  the 


THE  HIGHLAND  LIGHT  191 

back  side  of  the  Cape,  with  the  boys  locked  into 
the  cabin  and  drowned.  It  is  said  that  the 
homes  of  all  were  "within  a  circuit  of  two 
miles."  Twenty -eight  inhabitants  of  Dennis 
were  lost  in  the  same  gale ;  and  I  read  that  "  in 
one  day,  immediately  after  this  storm,  nearly  or 
quite  one  hundred  bodies  were  taken  up  and 
buried  on  Cape  Cod."  The  Truro  Insurance 
Company  failed  for  want  of  skippers  to  take 
charge  of  its  vessels.  But  the  surviving  inhab- 
itants went  a-fishing  again  the  next  year  as 
usual.  I  found  that  it  would  not  do  to  speak 
of  shipwrecks  there,  for  almost  every  family 
has  lost  some  of  its  members  at  sea.  "Who 
lives  in  that  house?"  I  inquired.  "Three  wid- 
ows," was  the  reply.  The  stranger  and  the  in- 
habitant view  the  shore  with  very  different  eyes. 
The  former  may  have  come  to  see  and  acbiiire 
the  ocean  in  a  storm ;  but  the  latter  looks  on  it 
as  the  scene  where  his  nearest  relatives  were 
wrecked.  When  I  remarked  to  an  old  wrecker 
partially  blind,  who  was  sitting  on  the  edge  of 
the  bank  smoking  a  pipe,  which  he  had  just  lit 
with  a  match  of  dried  beach-grass,  that  I  sup- 
posed he  liked  to  hear  the  sound  of  the  surf,  he 
answered,  "No,  I  do  not  like  to  hear  the  sound 
of  the  surf."  He  had  lost  at  least  one  son  in 
"the  memorable  gale,"  and  could  tell  many  a 
tale  of  the  shipwrecks  which  he  had  witnessed 
there. 


192  CAPE   COD 

In  the  year  1717,  a  noted  pirate  named  Bel- 
lamy was  led  on  to  the  bar  off  AVellfleet  by  the 
captain  of  a  S7iow  which  he  had  taken,  to  whom 
he  had  offered  his  vessel  again  if  he  would  pilot 
him  into  Provincetown  Harbor.  Tradition  says 
that  the  latter  threw  over  a  burning  tar  barrel 
in  the  night,  which  drifted  ashore,  and  the  pi- 
rates followed  it.  A  storm  coming  on,  their 
whole  fleet  was  wrecked,  and  more  than  a  hun- 
dred dead  bodies  lay  along  the  shore.  Six  who 
escaped  shipwreck  were  executed.  "At  times 
to  this  day,"  (1793),  says  the  historian  of  Well- 
fleet,  "there  are  King  William  and  Queen 
Mary's  coj)pers  picked  up,  and  pieces  of  silver 
called  cob-money.  The  violence  of  the  seas 
moves  the  sands  on  the  outer  bar,  so  that  at 
times  the  iron  caboose  of  the  ship  [that  is,  Bel- 
lamy's] at  low  ebbs  has  been  seen."  Another 
tells  us  that,  "  For  many  years  after  this  ship- 
wreck, a  man  of  a  very  singular  and  frightful 
aspect  used  every  spring  and  autumn  to  be  seen 
traveling  on  the  Cape,  who  was  supposed  to 
have  been  one  of  Bellamy's  crew.  The  pre- 
sumption is  that  he  went  to  some  place  where 
money  had  been  secreted  by  the  pirates,  to  get 
such  a  supply  as  his  exigencies  required. 
When  he  died,  many  pieces  of  gold  were  found 
in  a  girdle  which  he  constantly  wore. 

As  I  was  walking  on  the  beach  here  in  my 


THE  HIGHLAND  LIGHT  193 

last  visit  looking  for  shells  and  pebbles,  just 
after  that  storm  which  I  have  mentioned  as 
moving  the  sand  to  a  great  depth,  not  knowing 
but  I  might  find  some  cob-money,  I  did  actually 
pick  up  a  French  crown  piece,  worth  about  one 
dollar  and  six  cents,  near  high-water  mark,  on 
the  still  moist  sand,  just  under  the  abrupt,  cav- 
ing base  of  the  bank.  It  was  of  a  dark  slate 
color,  and  looked  like  a  flat  pebble,  but  still 
bore  a  very  distinct  and  handsome  head  of  Louis 
XV.,  and  the  usual  legend  on  the  reverse,  Sit 
Nomen  Domini  Benedictuni  (Blessed  be  the 
Name  of  the  Lord),  a  pleasing  sentiment  to  read 
in  the  sands  of  the  seashore,  whatever  it  might 
be  stamped  on,  and  I  also  made  out  the  date, 
1741.  Of  course,  I  thought  at  first  that  it  was 
that  same  old  button  which  I  have  found  so 
many  times,  but  my  knife  soon  showed  the  sil- 
ver. Afterward,  rambling  on  the  bars  at  low 
tide,  I  cheated  my  companion  by  holding  up 
round  shells  (^Scutellce)  between  my  fingers, 
whereupon  he  quickly  stripped  and  came  off  to 
me. 

In  the  Revolution,  a  British  ship  of  war  called 
the  Somerset  was  wrecked  near  the  Clay 
Pounds,  and  all  on  board,  some  hundreds  in 
number,  were  taken  prisoners.  My  informant 
said  that  he  had  never  seen  any  mention  of  this 
in  the  histories,  but  that  at  any  rate  he  knew  of 


194  CAPE   COD 

a  silver  watch,  which  one  of  those  prisoners  by 
accident  left  there,  which  was  still  going  to  tell 
the  story.  But  this  event  is  noticed  by  some 
writers. 

The  next  summer  I  saw  a  sloop  from  Chatham 
dragging  for  anchors  and  chains  just  off  this 
shore.  She  had  her  boats  out  at  the  work  while 
she  shuffled  about  on  various  tacks,  and,  when 
anything  was  found,  drew  up  to  hoist  it  on 
board.  It  is  a  singular  employment,  at  which 
men  are  regularly  hired  and  paid  for  their  in- 
dustry, to  hunt  to-day  in  pleasant  weather  for 
anchors  which  have  been  lost,  —  the  sunken 
faith  and  hope  of  mariners,  to  which  they 
trusted  in  vain ;  now,  perchance,  it  is  the  rusty 
one  of  some  old  pirate's  ship  or  Norman  fisher- 
man, whose  cable  parted  here  two  hundred  years 
ago,  and  now  the  best  bower  anchor  of  a  Canton 
or  a  California  ship,  which  has  gone  about  her 
business.  If  the  roadsteads  of  the  spiritual 
ocean  could  be  thus  dragged,  what  rusty  flukes 
of  hope  deceived  and  parted  chain-cables  of 
faith  might  again  be  windlassed  aboard !  enough 
to  sink  the  finder's  craft,  or  stock  new  navies 
to  the  end  of  time.  The  bottom  of  the  sea  is 
strewn  with  anchors,  some  deeper  and  some  shal- 
lower, and  alternately  covered  and  uncovered 
by  the  sand,  perchance  with  a  small  length  of 
iron  cable  still  attached,  —  to  which  where  is 


THE  HIGHLAND  LIGHT  195 

the  other  end  ?  So  many  unconcluded  tales  to 
be  continued  another  time.  So,  if  we  had  div- 
ing-bells adapted  to  the  spiritual  deeps,  we 
should  see  anchors  with  their  cables  attached,  as 
thick  as  eels  in  vinegar,  all  wriggling  vainly 
toward  their  holding-ground.  But  that  is  not 
treasure  for  us  which  another  man  has  lost; 
rather  it  is  for  us  to  seek  what  no  other  man  has 
found  or  can  find, — not  be  Chatham  men, 
dragging  for  anchors. 

The  annals  of  this  voracious  beach !  who  could 
write  them,  unless  it  were  a  shipwrecked  sailor? 
How  many  who  have  seen  it  have  seen  it  only  in 
the  midst  of  danger  and  distress,  the  last  strip 
of  earth  which  their  mortal  eyes  beheld.  Think 
of  the  amount  of  suffering  which  a  single  strand 
has  witnessed !  The  ancients  would  have  repre- 
sented it  as  a  sea-monster  with  open  jaws,  more 
terrible  than  Scylla  and  Charybdis.  An  inhabi- 
tant of  Truro  told  me  that  about  a  fortnight  af- 
ter the  St.  John  was  wrecked  at  Cohasset  he 
found  two  bodies  on  the  shore  at  the  Clay 
Povmds.  They  were  those  of  a  man  and  a  cor- 
pulent woman.  The  man  had  thick  boots  on, 
though  his  head  was  off,  but  "it  was  alongside." 
It  took  the  finder  some  weeks  to  get  over  the 
sight.  Perhaps  they  were  man  and  wife,  and 
whom  God  had  joined  the  ocean  currents  had 
not  put  asunder.     Yet  by  what  slight  accidents 


196  CAPE   COD 

at  first  may  they  have  been  associated  In  their 
drifting.  Some  of  the  bodies  of  those  passen- 
gers were  picked  up  far  out  at  sea,  boxed  up 
and  sunk;  some  brought  ashore  and  buried. 
There  are  more  consequences  to  a  shipwreck 
than  the  underwriters  notice.  The  Gulf  Stream 
may  return  some  to  their  native  shores,  or  drop 
them  In  some  out-of-the-way  cave  of  Ocean, 
where  time  and  the  elements  will  write  new  rid- 
dles with  their  bones.  —  But  to  return  to  land 
again. 

In  this  bank,  above  the  clay,  I  counted  In  the 
summer,  two  hundred  holes  of  the  Bank  Swallow 
within  a  space  six  rods  long,  and  there  were  at 
least  one  thousand  old  birds  within  three  times 
that  distance,  twittering  over  the  surf.  I  had 
never  associated  them  in  my  thoughts  with  the 
beach  before.  One  little  boy  who  had  been  a- 
birds' -nesting  had  got  eighty  swallows'  eggs  for 
his  share !  Tell  It  not  to  the  Humane  Society  I 
There  were  many  young  birds  on  the  clay  be- 
neath, which  had  tumbled  out  and  died.  Also 
there  were  many  Crow-blackbirds  hopping  about 
In  the  dry  fields,  and  the  Upland  Plover  were 
breeding  close  by  the  light-house.  The  keeper 
had  once  cut  off  one's  wing  while  mowing,  as 
she  sat  on  her  esfo-s  there.  This  Is  also  a  favor- 
ite  resort  for  gunners  In  the  fall  to  shoot  the 
Golden   Plover.     As   around   the   shores   of  a 


THE  HIGHLAND  LIGHT  197 

pond  are  seen  devil's-needles,  butterflies,  etc., 
so  here,  to  my  surprise,  I  saw  at  the  same  season 
great  devil's-needles  of  a  size  proportion  ably- 
larger,  or  nearly  as  big  as  my  finger,  incessantly 
coasting  up  and  down  the  edge  of  the  bank,  and 
butterflies  also  were  hovering  over  it,  and  I 
never  saw  so  many  dorr-bugs  and  beetles  of  va- 
rious kinds  as  strewed  the  beach.  They  had 
apparently  flown  over  the  bank  in  the  night, 
and  could  not  get  up  again,  and  some  had  per- 
haps fallen  into  the  sea  and  were  washed  ashore. 
They  may  have  been  in  part  attracted  by  the 
light-house  lamps. 

The  Clay  Pounds  are  a  more  fertile  tract 
than  usual.  We  saw  some  fine  patches  of  roots 
and  corn  here.  As  generally  on  the  Cape,  the 
plants  had  little  stalk  or  leaf,  but  ran  remark- 
ably to  seed.  The  corn  was  hardly  more  than 
half  as  high  as  in  the  interior,  yet  the  ears  were 
large  and  full,  and  one  farmer  told  us  that  he 
could  raise  forty  bushels  on  an  acre  without 
manure,  and  sixty  with  it.  The  heads  of  the 
rye  also  were  remarkably  large.  The  Shadbush 
(Ajnelanchier)^  Beach  Plums,  and  Blueberries 
(^Vaccinium  Pennsylvanicurn),  like  the  apple- 
trees  and  oaks,  were  very  dwarfish,  spreading 
over  the  sand,  but  at  the  same  time  very  fruit- 
ful. The  blueberry  was  but  an  inch  or  two 
high,  and  its  fruit  often  rested  on  the  ground. 


198  CAPE   COD 

so  that  you  did  not  suspect  the  presence  of  the 
bushes,  even  on  those  bare  hills,  until  you  were 
treading  on  them.  I  thought  that  this  fertility 
must  be  owing  mainly  to  the  abundance  of  mois- 
ture in  the  atmosphere,  for  I  observed  that  what 
little  grass  there  was  was  remarkably  laden  with 
dew  in  the  morning,  and  in  summer  dense  im- 
prisoning fogs  frequently  last  till  midday,  turn- 
ing one's  beard  into  a  wet  napkin  about  his 
throat,  and  the  oldest  inhabitant  may  lose  his 
way  within  a  stone's  throw  of  his  house  or  be 
obliged  to  follow  the  beach  for  a  guide.  The 
brick  house  attached  to  the  light-house  was  ex- 
ceedingly damj)  at  that  season,  and  writing- 
paper  lost  all  its  stiffness  in  it.  It  was  imjjos- 
sible  to  dry  your  towel  after  bathing,  or  to  press 
flowers  without  their  mildewing.  The  air  was 
so  moist  that  we  rarely  wished  to  drink,  though 
we  could  at  all  times  taste  the  salt  on  our  lips. 
Salt  was  rarely  used  at  table,  and  our  host  told 
us  that  his  cattle  invariably  refused  it  when  it 
was  offered  them,  they  got  so  much  with  their 
grass  and  at  every  breath,  but  he  said  that  a 
sick  horse  or  one  just  from  the  country  would 
sometimes  take  a  hearty  draught  of  salt  water, 
and  seemed  to  like  it  and  be  the  better  for  it. 

It  was  surprising  to  see  how  much  water  was 
contained  in  the  terminal  bud  of  the  seaside 
golden-rod,  standing  in  the  sand  early  in  July, 


THE  HIGHLAND  LIGHT  199 

and  also  how  turnips,  beets,  carrots,  etc.,  flour- 
ished even  in  pure  sand.  A  man  traveling  by 
the  shore  near  there  not  long  before  us  noticed 
something  green  growing  in  the  pure  sand  of  the 
beach,  just  at  high-water  mark,  and  on  ap- 
proaching found  it  to  be  a  bed  of  beets  flourish- 
ing vigorously,  probably  from  seed  washed  out 
of  the  Franklin.  Also  beets  and  turnips  came 
up  in  the  seaweed  used  for  manure  in  many 
parts  of  the  Cape.  This  suggests  how  various 
plants  may  have  been  dispersed  over  the  world 
to  distant  islands  and  continents.  Vessels,  with 
seeds  in  their  cargoes,  destined  for  particular 
ports,  where  perhaps  they  were  not  needed,  have 
been  cast  away  on  desolate  islands,  and  though 
their  crews  perished,  some  of  their  seeds  have 
been  preserved.  Out  of  many  kinds  a  few 
would  find  a  soil  and  climate  adapted  to  them, 
—  become  naturalized  and  perhaps  drive  out  the 
native  plants  at  last,  and  so  fit  the  land  for  the 
habitation  of  man.  It  is  an  ill  wind  that  blows 
nobody  any  good,  and  for  the  time  lamentable 
shipwrecks  may  thus  contribute  a  new  vegetable 
to  a  continent's  stock,  and  prove  on  the  whole  a 
lasting  blessing  to  its  inhabitants.  Or  winds 
and  currents  might  effect  the  same  without  the 
intervention  of  man.  What  indeed  are  the 
various  succulent  plants  which  grow  on  the 
beach  but  such  beds  of  beets  and  turnips,  sprung 


200  CAPE  COD 

originally  from  seeds  which  perhaps  were  cast 
on  the  waters  for  this  end,  thongh  we  do  not 
know  the  Franldin  which  they  came  out  of  ?  In 
ancient  times  some  Mr.  Bell  (  ?)  was  sailing  this 
way  in  his  ark  with  seeds  of  rocket,  saltwort, 
sandwort,  beach-grass,  samphire,  bayberry,  pov- 
erty-grass, etc. ,  all  nicely  labeled  with  directions, 
intending  to  establish  a  nursery  somewhere; 
and  did  not  a  nursery  get  established,  though 
he  thought  that  he  had  failed? 

About  the  light-house  I  observed  in  the  sum- 
mer the  pretty  Poly  gala  polygama,  spreading 
ray-wise  flat  on  the  ground,  white  pasture  this- 
tles (Cirsium  pumilum),  and  amid  the  shrub- 
bery the  Smilax  glauca^  which  is  commonly 
said  not  to  grow  so  far  north ;  near  the  edge  of 
the  banks  about  half  a  mile  southward,  the 
broom  crowberry  {Empetrum  Conradii),  for 
which  Plymouth  Is  the  only  locality  in  Massa- 
chusetts usually  named,  forms  pretty  green 
mounds  four  or  five  feet  in  diameter  by  one  foot 
high,  —  soft,  springy  beds  for  the  wayfarer.  I 
saw  it  afterward  in  Provincetown,  but  prettiest 
of  all  the  scarlet  pimpernel,  or  poor-man's 
weather-glass  (Anagallis  ar";ensis),  greets  you 
in  fair  weather  on  almost  every  square  yard  of 
sand.  From  Yarmouth,  I  have  received  the 
Chryso2:)sis  falcata  (golden  aster),  and  Vacci- 
nium  stamineiun  (Deerberry  or  Squaw  Huckle- 


THE  HIGHLAND  LIGHT  201 

berry),  with  fruit  not  edible,  sometimes  as  large 
as  a  cranberry  (Sept.  7). 

The  Highland  Light-house,^  where  we  were 
staying,  is  a  substantial-looking  building  of 
brick,  painted  white,  and  surmounted  by  an 
iron  cap.  Attached  to  it  is  the  dwelling  of  the 
keeper,  one  story  high,  also  of  brick,  and  built 
by  government.  As  we  were  going  to  spend 
the  night  in  a  light-house,  we  wished  to  make 
the  most  of  so  novel  an  experience,  and  there- 
fore told  our  host  that  we  would  like  to  accom- 
pany him  when  he  went  to  light  up.  At  rather 
early  candle-light  he  lighted  a  small  Japan 
lamp,  allowing  it  to  smoke  rather  more  than  we 
like  on  ordinary  occasions,  and  told  us  to  follow 
him.  He  led  the  way  first  through  his  bed- 
room, which  was  placed  nearest  to  the  light- 
house, and  then  through  a  long,  narrow,  covered 
passage-way,  between  whitewashed  walls  like  a 
prison  entry,  into  the  lower  part  of  the  light- 
house, where  many  great  butts  of  oil  were  ar- 
ranged around;  thence  we  ascended  by  a  wind- 
ing and  open  iron  stairway,  with  a  steadily 
increasing  scent  of  oil  and  lamp-smoke,  to  a 
trap-door  in  an  iron  floor,  and  through  this  into 
the  lantern.  It  was  a  neat  building,  with  every- 
thing in  apple-pie  order,  and  no  danger  of  any- 

^  The  light-house  has  since  heen  rebuilt,  and  shows  a  Fres' 
nel  light. 


202  CAPE   COD 

thing  rusting  there  for  want  of  oil.  The  light 
consisted  of  fifteen  argand  lamps,  placed  within 
smooth  concave  reflectors  twenty-one  inches  in 
diameter,  and  arranged  in  two  horizontal  circles 
one  above  the  other,  facing  every  way  excepting 
directly  down  the  Cape.  These  were  sur- 
rounded, at  a  distance  of  two  or  three  feet,  by 
large  plate-glass  windows,  which  defied  the 
storms,  with  iron  sashes,  on  which  rested  the 
iron  cap.  All  the  iron  work,  except  the  floor, 
was  painted  white.  And  thus  the  light-house 
was  completed.  We  walked  slowly  round  in 
that  narrow  space  as  the  keeper  lighted  each 
lamp  in  succession,  conversing  with  him  at  the 
same  moment  that  many  a  sailor  on  the  deep 
witnessed  the  lighting  of  the  Highland  Light. 
His  duty  was  to  fill  and  trim  and  light  his 
lamps,  and  keep  bright  the  reflectors.  He  filled 
them  every  morning,  and  trimmed  them  com- 
monly once  in  the  course  of  the  night.  He  com- 
plained of  the  quality  of  the  oil  which  was  fur- 
nished. This  house  consumes  about  eight  hun- 
dred gallons  in  a  year,  which  cost  not  far  from 
one  dollar  a  gallon;  but  perhaps  a  few  lives 
would  be  saved  if  better  oil  were  provided. 
Another  light-house  keeper  said  that  the  same 
proportion  of  winter-strained  oil  was  sent  to  the 
southernmost  light-house  in  the  Union  as  to  the 
most    northern.     Formerly,    when    this    light- 


THE  HIGHLAND  LIGHT  203 

house  had  windows  with  small  and  thin  panes, 
a  severe  storm  would  sometimes  break  the  glass, 
and  then  they  were  obliged  to  put  up  a  wooden 
shutter  in  haste  to  save  their  lights  and  reflec- 
tors, —  and  sometimes  in  tempests,  when  the 
mariner  stood  most  in  need  of  their  guidance, 
they  had  thus  nearly  converted  the  light -house 
into  a  dark  lantern,  which  emitted  only  a  few 
feeble  rays,  and  those  commonly  on  the  land  or 
lee  side.  He  spoke  of  the  anxiety  and  sense  of 
responsibility  which  he  felt  in  cold  and  stormy 
nights  in  the  winter ;  when  he  knew  that  many  a 
poor  fellow  was  depending  on  him,  and  his 
lamps  burned  dimly,  the  oil  being  chilled. 
Sometimes  he  was  obliged  to  warm  the  oil  in  a 
kettle  in  his  house  at  midnight,  and  fill  his 
lamps  over  again,  —  for  he  could  not  have  a  fire 
in  the  light-house,  it  produced  such  a  sweat  on 
the  windows.  His  successor  told  me  that  he 
could  not  keep  too  hot  a  fire  in  such  a  case. 
All  this  because  the  oil  was  poor.  A  govern- 
ment lighting  the  mariners  on  its  wintry  coast 
with  summer-strained  oil,  to  save  expense! 
That  were  surely  a  summer-strained  mercy. 

This  keeper's  successor,  who  kindly  enter- 
tained me  the  next  year,  stated  that  one  ex- 
tremely cold  night,  when  this  and  all  the  neigh- 
boring lights  were  burning  summer  oil,  but  he 
hiid  been  provident  enough  to  reserve  a  little 


204  CAPE   COD 

winter  oil  against  emergencies,  he  was  waked  up 
with  anxiety,  and  found  that  his  oil  was  con- 
gealed, and  his  lights  almost  extinguished ;  and 
when,  after  many  hours'  exertion,  he  had  suc- 
ceeded in  replenishing  his  reservoirs  with  winter 
oil  at  the  wick  end,  and  with  difficulty  had  made 
them  burn,  he  looked  out  and  found  that  the 
other  lights  in  the  neighborhood,  which  were 
usually  visible  to  him  had  gone  out,  and  he 
heard  afterward  that  the  Pamet  River  and  Bil- 
lingsgate Lights  also  had  been  extinguished. 

Our  host  said  that  the  frost,  too,  on  the  win- 
dows caused  him  much  trouble,  and  in  sultry 
summer  nights  the  moths  covered  them  and 
dimmed  his  lights ;  sometimes  even  small  birds 
flew  against  the  thick  plate  glass,  and  w^ere 
found  on  the  ground  beneath  in  the  morning 
with  their  necks  bi-oken.  In  the  spring  of  1855 
he  found  nineteen  small  yellow  birds,  perhaps 
goldfinches  or  myrtle-birds,  thus  lying  dead 
around  the  light-house;  and  sometimes  in  the 
fall  he  had  seen  where  a  golden  plover  had 
struck  the  glass  in  the  night,  and  left  the  down 
and  the  fatty  part  of  its  breast  on  it. 

Thus  he  struggled,  by  every  method,  to  keep 
his  light  shining  before  men.  Surely  the  light- 
house keeper  has  a  responsible,  if  an  easy,  office. 
When  his  lamp  goes  out,  he  goes  out;  or,  at 
most,  only  one  such  accident  is  pardoned. 


THE  HIGHLAND  LIGHT  205 

I  thought  it  a  pity  that  some  poor  student  did 
not  live  there,  to  profit  by  all  that  light,  since 
he  would  not  rob  the  mariner.  "Well,"  he 
said,  "I  do  sometimes  come  up  here  and  read 
the  newsjjaper  when  they  are  noisy  down  be- 
low." Think  of  fifteen  argand  lamps  to  read 
the  newspaper  by !  Government  oil !  —  light 
enough,  perchance,  to  read  the  Constitution  by! 
I  thought  that  he  should  read  nothing  less  than 
his  Bible  by  that  light.  I  had  a  classmate  who 
fitted  for  college  by  the  lamps  of  a  light-house, 
which  was  more  light,  we  think,  than  the  Uni- 
versity afforded. 

When  we  had  come  down  and  walked  a  dozen 
rods  from  the  light-house,  we  found  that  we 
could  not  get  the  full  strength  of  its  light  on  the 
narrow  strip  of  land  between  it  and  the  shore, 
being  too  low  for  the  focus,  and  we  saw  only  so 
many  feeble  and  rayless  stars;  but  at  forty  rods 
inland  we  could  see  to  read  though  we  were  still 
indebted  to  only  one  lamp.  Each  reflector  sent 
forth  a  separate  "fan  "  of  light,  — one  shone  on 
the  windmill,  and  one  in  the  hollow,  while  the 
intervening  spaces  were  in  shadow.  This  light 
is  said  to  be  visible  twenty  nautical  miles  and 
more,  from  an  observer  fifteen  feet  above  the 
level  of  the  sea.  We  could  see  the  revolving 
light  at  Race  Point,  the  end  of  the  Cape,  abovxt 
nine  miles  distant,  and  also  the  light  on  Long 


20G  CAPE   COD 

Point,  at  the  entrance  of  Provincetown  Harbor, 
and  one  of  the  distant  Plymouth  Harbor  lights, 
across  the  Bay,  nearly  in  a  range  with  the  last, 
like  a  star  in  the  horizon.  The  keeper  thought 
that  the  other  Plymouth  light  was  concealed 
by  being  exactly  in  a  range  with  the  Long 
Point  Light.  He  told  us  that  the  mariner  was 
sometimes  led  astray  by  a  mackerel  fisher's  lan- 
tern, who  was  afraid  of  being  rvm  down  in  the 
night,  or  even  by  a  cottager's  light,  mistaking 
them  for  some  well-known  light  on  the  coast, 
and,  when  he  discovered  his  mistake,  was  wont 
to  curse  the  prudent  fisher  or  the  wakeful  cot- 
tager without  reason. 

Though  it  was  once  declared  that  Providence 
placed  this  mass  of  clay  here  on  purpose  to 
erect  a  light-house  on,  the  keeper  said  that  the 
light-house  should  have  been  erected  half  a  mile 
farther  south,  where  the  coast  begins  to  bend, 
and  where  the  light  could  be  seen  at  the  same 
time  with  the  Nauset  lights,  and  distinguished 
from  them.  They  now  talk  of  building  one 
there.  It  happens  that  the  present  one  is  the 
more  useless  now,  so  near  the  extremity  of  the 
Cape,  because  other  light-houses  have  since  been 
erected  there. 

Among  the  many  regulations  of  the  Light- 
house Board,  hanging  against  the  wall  here, 
many  of  them  excellent,  perhaps,  if  there  were 


THE  HIGHLAND  LIGHT  207 

a  regiment  stationed  here  to  attend  to  tliem, 
there  is  one  requiring  the  keeper  to  keep  an  ac- 
count of  the  number  of  vessels  which  pass  his 
light  during  the  day.  But  there  are  a  hundred 
vessels  in  sight  at  once,  steering  in  all  direc- 
tions, many  on  the  very  verge  of  the  horizon, 
and  he  must  have  more  eyes  than  Argus,  and 
be  a  good  deal  farther  sighted,  to  tell  which  are 
passing  his  light.  It  is  an  employment  in  some 
respects  best  suited  to  the  habits  of  the  gulls 
which  coast  up  and  down  here,  and  circle  over 
the  sea. 

I  was  told  by  the  next  keeper,  that  on  the  8th 
of  June  following,  a  particularly  clear  and 
beautiful  morning,  he  rose  about  haK  an  hour 
before  sunrise,  and  having  a  little  time  to  spare, 
for  his  custom  was  to  extinguish  his  lights  at 
svmrise,  walked  down  toward  the  shore  to  see 
what  he  might  find.  When  he  got  to  the  edge 
of  the  bank  he  looked  up,  and,  to  his  astonish- 
ment, saw  the  sun  rising,  and  already  part  way 
above  the  horizon.  Thinking  that  his  clock  was 
wrong,  he  made  haste  back,  and  though  it  was 
still  too  early  by  the  clock,  extinguished  his 
lamps,  and  when  he  had  got  through  and  come 
down,  he  looked  out  the  window,  and,  to  his 
still  greater  astonishment,  saw  the  sun  just 
where  it  was  before,  two  thirds  above  the  hori- 
zon.    He  showed  me  where  its  rays  fell  on  the 


208  CAPE   COD 

wall  across  the  room.  He  proceeded  to  make  a 
fire,  and  when  he  had  done,  there  was  the  sun 
still  at  the  same  height.  Whereupon,  not  trust- 
ing to  his  own  eyes  any  longer,  he  called  up  his 
wife  to  look  at  it,  and  she  saw  it  also.  There 
were  vessels  in  sight  on  the  ocean,  and  their 
crews,  too,  he  said,  must  have  seen  it,  for  its 
rays  fell  on  them.  It  remained  at  that  height 
for  about  fifteen  minutes  by  the  clock,  and  then 
rose  as  usual,  and  nothing  else  extraordinary 
happened  during  that  day.  Though  accustomed 
to  the  coast,  he  had  never  witnessed  nor  heard 
of  such  a  phenomenon  before.  I  suggested  that 
there  might  have  been  a  cloud  in  the  horizon  in- 
visible to  him,  which  rose  with  the  sun,  and  his 
clock  was  only  as  accurate  as  the  average;  or 
J3erhaps,  as  he  denied  the  possibility  of  this,  it 
was  such  a  looming  of  the  sun  as  is  said  to  occur 
at  Lake  Superior  and  elsewhere.  Sir  John 
Franklin,  for  instance,  says  in  his  Narrative, 
that  when  he  was  on  the  shore  of  the  Polar  Sea, 
the  horizontal  refraction  varied  so  much  one 
morning  that  "the  upper  limb  of  the  sun  twice 
appeared  at  the  horizon  before  it  finally  rose." 

He  certainly  must  be  a  son  of  Aurora  to 
whom  the  sun  looms,  when  there  are  so  many 
millions  to  whom  it  glooms  rather,  or  who  never 
see  it  till  an  hour  after  it  has  risen.  But  it  be- 
hooves us  old  stagers  to  keep  our  lamps  trimmed 


THE  HIGHLAND  LIGHT  209 

and  burning  to  the  last,  and  not  trust  to  the 
sun's  looming. 

This  keeper  remarked  that  the  centre  of  the 
flame  should  be  exactly  opposite  the  centre  of 
the  reflectors,  and  that  accordingly,  if  he  was 
not  careful  to  turn  down  his  wicks  in  the  morn- 
ing, the  sun  falling  on  the  reflectors  on  the 
south  side  of  the  building  would  set  fire  to 
them,  like  a  burning-glass,  in  the  coldest  day, 
and  he  would  look  up  at  noon  and  see  them  all 
lighted!  When  your  lamp  is  ready  to  give 
light,  it  is  readiest  to  receive  it,  and  the  sun 
will  light  it.  His  successor  said  that  he  had 
never  known  them  to  blaze  in  such  a  case,  but 
merely  to  smoke. 

I  saw  that  this  was  a  place  of  wonders.  In 
a  sea  turn  or  shallow  fog  while  I  was  there  the 
next  summer,  it  being  clear  overhead,  the  edge 
of  the  bank  twenty  rods  distant  appeared  like  a 
mountain  pasture  in  the  horizon.  I  was  com- 
pletely deceived  by  it,  and  I  could  then  under- 
stand why  mariners  sometimes  ran  ashore  in 
such  cases,  especially  in  the  night,  supposing  it 
to  be  far  away,  though  they  could  see  the  land. 
Once  since  this,  being  in  a  large  oyster  boat  two 
or  three  hundred  miles  from  here,  in  a  dark 
night,  when  there  was  a  thin  veil  of  mist  on 
land  and  water,  we  came  so  near  to  running  on 
to  the  land  before  our  skipper  was  aware  of  it, 


210  CAPE   COD 

that  the  first  warning  was  my  hearing  the  sound 
of  the  surf  under  my  elbow.  I  coukl  almost 
have  jumped  ashore,  and  we  were  obliged  to  go 
about  very  suddenly  to  prevent  striking.  The 
distant  light  for  which  we  were  steering,  sup- 
jjosing  it  a  light-house,  five  or  six  miles  off, 
came  through  the  cracks  of  a  fisherman's  bunk 
not  more  than  six  rods  distant. 

The  keeper  entertained  us  handsomely  in  his 
solitary  little  ocean  house.  He  was  a  man  of 
singular  patience  and  intelligence,  who,  when 
our  queries  struck  him,  rang  as  clear  as  a  bell  in 
response.  The  light-house  lamp  a  few  feet  dis- 
tant shone  full  into  my  chamber,  and  made  it  as 
bright  as  day,  so  I  knew  exactly  how  the  High- 
land Light  bore  all  that  night,  and  I  was  in  no 
danger  of  being  wrecked.  Unlike  the  last,  this 
was  as  still  as  a  summer  night.  I  thought  as  I 
lay  there,  half  awake  and  half  asleep,  looking 
upward  through  the  window  at  the  lights  above 
my  head,  how  many  sleepless  eyes  from  far  out 
on  the  Ocean  stream  —  mariners  of  all  nations 
spinning  their  yarns  through  the  various  watches 
of  the  night  —  were  directed  toward  my  couch. 


IX 

THE   SEA    AND  THE   DESERT 

The  light-house  lamps  were  still  burning, 
though  now  with  a  silvery  lustre,  when  I  rose  to 
see  the  sun  come  out  of  the  Ocean ;  for  he  still 
rose  eastward  of  us ;  but  I  was  convinced  that  he 
must  have  come  out  of  a  dry  bed  beyond  that 
stream,  though  he  seemed  to  come  out  of  the 
water. 

"  The  sun  once  more  touched  the  fields, 
Mounting  to  heaven  from  the  fair  flowing 
Deep-running  Ocean." 

Now  we  saw  countless  sails  of  mackerel  fishers 
abroad  on  the  deep,  one  fleet  in  the  north  just 
pouring  round  the  Cape,  another  standing  down 
toward  Chatham,  and  our  host's  son  went  off  to 
join  some  lagging  member  of  the  first  which  had 
not  yet  left  the  Bay. 

Before  we  left  the  light-house  we  were  obliged 
to  anoint  our  shoes  faithfully  with  tallow,  for 
walking  on  the  beach,  in  the  salt  water  and  the 
sand,  had  turned  them  red  and  crisp.  To  coun- 
terbalance this,  I  have  remarked  that  the  sea- 
shore, even  where  muddy,  as  it  is  not  here,  is 


212  CAPE   COD 

singularly  clean ;  for,  notwithstanding  the  spat- 
tering of  the  water  and  mud  and  squirting  of  the 
clams,  while  walking  to  and  from  the  boat,  your 
best  black  pants  retain  no  stain  nor  dirt,  such 
as  they  would  acquire  from  walking  in  the 
country. 

We  have  heard  that  a  few  days  after  this, 
when  the  Provincetown  Bank  was  robbed,  speedy 
emissaries  from  Provincetown  made  particular 
inquiries  concerning  us  at  this  light-house.  In- 
deed, they  traced  us  all  the  way  down  the  Cape, 
and  concluded  that  we  came  by  this  unusual 
route  down  the  back  side  and  on  foot,  in  order 
that  we  might  discover  a  way  to  get  off  with  our 
booty  when  we  had  committed  the  robbery. 
The  Cape  is  so  long  and  narrow,  and  so  bare 
withal,  that  it  is  well-nigh  impossible  for  a 
stranger  to  visit  it  without  the  knowledge  of  its 
inhabitants  generally,  unless  he  is  wrecked  on  to 
it  in  the  night.  So,  when  this  robbery  oc- 
curred, all  their  suspicions  seem  to  have  at  once 
centred  on  us  two  travelers  who  had  just  passed 
down  it.  If  we  had  not  chanced  to  leave  the 
Cape  so  soon,  we  should  probably  have  been 
arrested.  The  real  robbers  were  two  young  men 
from  Worcester  Coimty  who  traveled  with  a 
centre-bit,  and  are  said  to  have  done  their  work 
very  neatly.  But  the  only  bank  that  we  pried 
into  was  the  great  Cape  Cod  sand-bank,  and  we 


THE  SEA    AND   THE  DESERT        213 

robbed  it  only  of  an  old  French  crown  piece, 
some  shells  and  pebbles,  and  the  materials  of 
this  story. 

Again  we  took  to  the  beach  for  another  day 
(October  13),  walking  along  the  shore  of  the  i-e- 
counding  sea,  determined  to  get  it  into  us. 
We  wished  to  associate  with  the  Ocean  until  it 
lost  the  pond-like  look  which  it  wears  to  a  coun- 
tryman. We  still  thought  that  we  could  see  the 
other  side.  Its  surface  was  still  more  sparkling 
than  the  day  before,  and  we  beheld  "the  count- 
less smilings  of  the  ocean  waves;"  though  some 
of  them  were  pretty  broad  grins,  for  still  the 
wind  blew  and  the  billows  broke  in  foam  along 
the  beach.  The  nearest  beach  to  us  on  the 
other  side,  whither  we  looked,  due  east,  was  on 
the  coast  of  Galicia,  in  Spain,  whose  capital  is 
Santiago,  though  by  old  poets'  reckoning  it 
should  have  been  Atlantis  or  the  Hesperides; 
but  heaven  is  found  to  be  farther  west  now.  At 
first  we  were  abreast  of  that  part  of  Portugal 
e)i,tre  Douro  e  Mino,  and  then  Galicia  and  the 
port  of  Pontevedra  opened  to  us  as  we  walked 
along;  but  we  did  not  enter,  the  breakers  ran 
so  high.  The  bold  headland  of  Cape  Finisterre, 
a  little  north  of  east,  jutted  toward  us  next, 
with  its  vain  brag,  for  we  flung  back,  —  "Here 
is  Cape  Cod, — Cape  Land's-Beginning."  A 
little  indentation  toward  the  north, —  for  the  land 


214  CAPE   COD 

• 

loomed  to  our  imaginations  by  a  common  mi- 
rage,—  we  knew  was  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  and  we 

sang :  — 

"  There  we  lay,  till  next  day, 

In  the  Bay  of  Biscay  O !  " 

A  little  south  of  east  was  Palos,  where  Co- 
lumbus weighed  anchor,  and  farther  yet  the 
pillars  which  Hercules  set  up ;  concerning  which 
when  we  inquired  at  the  top  of  our  voices  what 
was  written  on  them,  —  for  we  had  the  morning 
sun  in  our  faces,  and  could  not  see  distinctly,  — 
the  inhabitants  shouted  iVe  plus  ultra  (no  more 
beyond),  but  the  wind  bore  to  us  the  truth  only, 
plus  ultra  (more  beyond),  and  over  the  Bay 
westward  was  echoed  ultra  (beyond).  We 
spoke  to  them  through  the  surf  about  the  Far 
West,  the  true  Hesperia,  cw  Trepa?  or  end  of  the 
day,  the  This  Side  Sundown,  where  the  sun  was 
extinguished  in  the  Pacific,  and  we  advised  them 
to  pull  up  stakes  and  j)lant  those  pillars  of  theirs 
on  the  shore  of  California,  whither  all  our  folks 
were  gone,  —  the  only  ne  plus  ultra  now. 
Whereat  they  looked  crestfallen  on  their  cliffs, 
for  we  had  taken  the  wind  out  of  all  their  sails. 

We  could  not  perceive  that  any  of  their  leav- 
ings washed  up  here,  though  we  picked  up  a 
child's  toy,  a  small  dismantled  boat,  which  may 
have  been  lost  at  Pontevedra. 

The  Cape  became  narrower  and  narrower  as 


THE  SEA   AND   THE  DESERT        215 

we  approached  its  wrist  between  Truro  and 
Provincetown  and  the  shore  inclined  more  de- 
cidedly to  the  west.  At  the  head  of  East  Har- 
bor Creek,  the  Atlantic  is  separated  but  by  half 
a  dozen  rods  of  sand  from  the  tide-waters  of  the 
Bay.  From  the  Clay  Pounds  the  bank  flatted 
off  for  the  last  ten  miles  to  the  extremity  at 
Race  Point,  though  the  highest  parts,  which  are 
called  "islands  "  from  their  appearance  at  a  dis- 
tance on  the  sea,  were  still  seventy  or  eighty  feet 
above  the  Atlantic,  and  afforded  a  good  view  of 
the  latter,  as  well  as  a  constant  view  of  the  Bay, 
there  being  no  trees  nor  a  hill  sufficient  to  in- 
terrupt it.  Also  the  sands  began  to  invade  the 
land  more  and  more,  until  finally  they  had  en- 
tire possession  from  sea  to  sea,  at  the  narrowest 
part.  For  three  or  four  miles  between  Truro 
and  Provincetown  there  were  no  inhabitants 
from  shore  to  shore,  and  there  were  but  three 
or  four  houses  for  twice  that  distance. 

As  we  plodded  along,  either  by  the  edge  of 
the  ocean,  where  the  sand  was  rapidly  drinking 
up  the  last  wave  that  wet  it,  or  over  the  sand- 
hills of  the  bank,  the  mackerel  fleet  continued 
to  pour  round  the  Cape  north  of  us,  ten  or  fif- 
teen miles  distant,  in  countless  numbers, 
schooner  after  schooner,  till  they  made  a  city 
on  the  water.  They  were  so  thick  that  many 
appeared  to  be  afoul  of  one  another;  now  all 


216  CAPE   COD 

standing  on  this  tack,  now  on  that.  We  saw 
how  well  the  New-Englanders  had  followed  up 
Captain  John  Smith's  suggestions  with  regard 
to  the  fisheries,  made  in  1616, — to  what  a 
pitch  they  had  carried  "this  contemptible  trade 
of  fish,"  as  he  significantly  styles  it,  and  were 
now  equal  to  the  Hollanders  whose  example  he 
holds  up  for  the  English  to  emulate;  notwith- 
standing that  "in  this  faculty,"  as  he  says,  "the 
former  are  so  naturalized,  and  of  their  vents  so 
certainly  acquainted,  as  there  is  no  likelihood 
they  will  ever  be  paralleled,  having  two  or  three 
thousand  busses,  flat-bottoms,  sword-pinks, 
todes,  and  such  like,  that  breeds  them  sailors, 
mariners,  soldiers,  and  merchants,  never  to  be 
wrought  out  of  that  trade  and  fit  for  any  other." 
We  thought  that  it  would  take  all  these  names 
and  more  to  describe  the  numerous  craft  which 
we  saw.  Even  then,  some  years  before  our  "re- 
nowned sires"  with  their  "peerless  dames" 
stepped  on  Plymouth  Rock,  he  wrote,  "New- 
foundland doth  yearly  freight  neir  eight  hun- 
dred sail  of  ships  with  a  silly,  lean,  skinny, 
poor-John,  and  cor  fisU,"  though  all  their  sup- 
plies must  be  annually  transported  from  Europe. 
Why  not  plant  a  colony  here  then,  and  raise 
those  supplies  on  the  spot?  "Of  all  the  four 
parts  of  the  world,"  says  he,  "that  I  have  yet 
seen,  not  inhabited,  could  I  have  but  means  to 


THE  SEA    AND   THE  DESERT        217 

transport  a  colony,  I  would  rather  live  here  than 
anywhere.  And  if  it  did  not  maintain  itself, 
were  we  but  once  indifferently  well  fitted,  let  us 
starve."  Then  "fishing  before  your  doors," 
you  "may  every  night  sleep  quietly  ashore,  with 
good  cheer  and  what  fires  you  will,  or,  when 
you  please,  with  your  wives  and  family."  Al- 
ready he  anticipates  "the  new  towns  in  New 
England  in  memory  of  their  old,"  —  and  who 
knows  what  may  be  discovered  in  the  "heart 
and  entrails  "  of  the  land,  "seeing  even  the  very 
edges,"  etc.,  etc. 

All  this  has  been  accomplished,  and  more, 
and  where  is  Holland  now  ?  Verily  the  Dutch 
have  taken  it.  There  was  no  long  interval  be- 
tween the  suggestion  of  Smith  and  the  eulogy 
of  Burke. 

Still  one  after  another  the  mackerel  schooners 
hove  in  sight  round  the  head  of  the  Cape, 
"whitening  all  the  sea  road,"  and  we  watched 
each  one  for  a  moment  with  an  undivided  inter- 
est. It  seemed  a  pretty  sport.  Here  in  the 
country  it  is  only  a  few  idle  boys  or  loafers  that 
go  a-fishing  on  a  rainy  day;  but  there  it  ap- 
peared as  if  every  able-bodied  man  and  helpful 
boy  in  the  Bay  had  gone  out  on  a  pleasure  ex- 
cursion in  their  yachts,  and  all  would  at  last 
land  and  have  a  chowder  on  the  Cape.  The 
gazetteer  tells  you  gravely  how  many  of  the  men 


218  CAPE   COD 

and  boys  of  these  towns  are  engaged  in  the 
whale,  cod,  and  mackerel  fishery,  how  many  go 
to  the  banks  of  Newfoundland,  or  the  coast  of 
Labrador,  the  Straits  of  Belle  Isle  or  the  Bay 
of  Chaleurs  (Shalore,  the  sailors  call  it);  as  if  I 
were  to  reckon  up  the  number  of  boys  in  Con- 
cord who  are  engaged  during  the  summer  in 
the  perch,  pickerel,  bream,  horn-jiout,  and 
shiner  fishery,  of  which  no  one  keeps  the  statis- 
tics, —  though  I  think  that  it  is  pursued  with 
as  much  profit  to  the  moral  and  intellectual  man 
(or  boy),  and  certainly  with  less  danger  to  the 
physical  one. 

One  of  my  playmates,  who  was  apprenticed 
to  a  printer,  and  was  somewhat  of  a  wag,  asked 
his  master  one  afternoon  if  he  might  go  a-fish- 
ing,  and  his  master  consented.  He  was  gone 
three  months.  When  he  came  back,  he  said 
that  he  had  been  to  the  Grand  Banks,  and  went 
to  setting  type  again  as  if  only  an  afternoon  had 
intervened. 

I  confess  I  was  surprised  to  find  that  so  many 
men  spent  their  whole  day,  ay,  their  whole  lives 
almost,  a-fishing.  It  is  remarkable  what  a  se- 
rious business  men  make  of  getting  their  din- 
ners, and  how  universally  shiftlessness  and  a 
e:rovelin<T  taste  take  refuge  in  a  merelv  ant-like 
industry.  Better  go  without  your  dinner,  1 
thought,  than  be  thus  everlastingly  fishing  for 


THE  SEA    AND   THE  DESERT        219 

it  like  a  cormorant.  Of  course,  vieioed  from 
the  shore,  our  pursuits  in  the  country  appear 
not  a  whit  less  frivolous. 

I  once  sailed  three  miles  on  a  mackerel  cruise 
myself.  It  was  a  Sunday  evening  after  a  vei-y 
warm  day  in  which  there  had  been  frequent 
thunder-showers,  and  I  had  walked  along  the 
shore  from  Cohasset  to  Duxbury.  I  wished  to 
get  over  from  the  last  place  to  Clark's  Island, 
but  no  boat  could  stir,  they  said,  at  that  stage 
of  the  tide,  they  being  left  high  on  the  mud. 
At  length  I  learned  that  the  tavern-keeper, 
Winsor,  was  going  out  mackereling  with  seven 
men  that  evening,  and  would  take  me.  When 
there  had  been  due  delay,  we  one  after  another 
straggled  down  to  the  shore  in  a  leisurely  man- 
ner, as  if  waiting  for  the  tide  still,  and  in  India- 
rubber  boots,  or  carrying  our  shoes  in  our 
hands,  waded  to  the  boats,  each  of  the  crew 
bearing  an  armful  of  wood,  and  one  a  bucket  of 
new  potatoes  besides.  Then  they  resolved  that 
each  should  bring  one  more  armful  of  wood,  and 
that  would  be  enough.  They  had  already  got 
a  barrel  of  water,  and  had  some  more  in  the 
schooner.  We  shoved  the  boats  a  dozen  rods 
over  the  mud  and  water  till  they  floated,  then 
rowing  half  a  mile  to  the  vessel  climbed  aboard, 
and  there  we  were  in  a  mackerel  schooner,  a 
fine  stout  vessel  of  forty-three  tons,  whose  name 


220  CAPE   COD 

1  forget.  The  baits  were  not  dry  on  the  hooks. 
There  was  the  mill  in  which  they  ground  the 
mackerel,  and  the  trough  to  hold  it,  and  the 
long-handled  dipper  to  cast  it  overboard  with; 
and  already  in  the  harbor  we  saw  the  surface 
rippled  with  schools  of  small  mackerel,  the  real 
/Scomber  vernaUs.  The  crew  proceeded  lei- 
surely to  weigh  anchor  and  raise  their  two  sails, 
there  being  a  fair  but  very  slight  wind ;  —  and 
the  sun  now  setting  clear  and  shining  on  the 
vessel  after  the  thunder-showers,  I  thought  that 
I  could  not  have  commenced  the  voyage  under 
more  favorable  auspices.  They  had  four  dories 
and  commonly  fished  in  them,  else  they  fished 
on  the  starboard  side  aft  where  their  lines  hung 
ready,  two  to  a  man.  The  boom  swung  round 
once  or  twice,  and  Winsor  cast  overboard  the 
fold  juice  of  mackerel  mixed  with  rain-water 
which  remained  in  his  trough,  and  then  we 
gathered  about  the  helmsman  and  told  stories. 
I  remember  that  the  compass  was  affected  by 
iron  in  its  neighborhood  and  varied  a  few  de- 
grees. There  was  one  among  us  just  returned 
from  California,  who  was  now  going  as  pas- 
senger for  his  health  and  amusement.  They 
expected  to  be  gone  about  a  week,  to  begin  fish- 
ing the  next  morning,  and  to  carry  their  fish 
fresh  to  Boston.  They  landed  me  at  Clark's 
Island,  where  the  Pilgrims  landed,  for  my  com- 


THE  SEA   AND   THE  DESERT        221 

panlons  wished  to  get  some  milk  for  the  voyage. 
But  I  had  seen  the  whole  of  it.  The  rest  was 
only  going  to  sea  and  catching  the  mackerel. 
Moreover,  it  was  as  well  that  I  did  not  remain 
with  them,  considering  the  small  quantity  of 
supplies  they  had  taken. 

Now  I  saw  the  mackerel  fleet  on  its  fishing - 
ground,  though  I  was  not  at  first  aware  of  it. 
So  my  experience  was  complete. 

It  was  even  more  cold  and  windy  to-day  than 
before,  and  we  were  frequently  glad  to  take 
shelter  behind  a  sand-hill.  None  of  the  ele- 
ments were  resting.  On  the  beach  there  is  a 
ceaseless  activity,  always  something  going  on, 
in  storm  and  in  calm,  winter  and  summer,  night 
and  day.  Even  the  sedentary  man  here  enjoys 
a  breadth  of  view  which  is  almost  equivalent  to 
motion.  In  clear  weather  the  laziest  may  look 
across  the  Bay  as  far  as  Plymouth  at  a  glance, 
or  over  the  Atlantic  as  far  as  human  vision 
reaches,  merely  raising  his  eyelids;  or  if  he  is 
too  lazy  to  look  after  all,  he  can  hardly  help 
hearing  the  ceaseless  dash  and  roar  of  the 
breakers.  The  restless  ocean  may  at  any  mo- 
ment cast  up  a  whale  or  a  wrecked  vessel  at 
your  feet.  All  the  reporters  in  the  world,  the 
most  rapid  stenographers,  could  not  report  the 
news  it  brings.  No  creature  could  move  slowly 
where  there  was  so  much  life  around.     The  few 


222  CAPE   COD 

wreckers  were  either  going  or  coming,  and  the 
ships  and  the  sand-pipers,  and  the  screaming 
gulls  overhead;  nothing  stood  still  but  the 
shore.  The  little  beach-birds  trotted  past  close 
to  the  water's  edge,  or  paused  but  an  instant  to 
swallow  their  food,  keeping  time  with  the  ele- 
ments. I  wondered  how  they  ever  got  used  to 
the  sea,  that  they  ventured  so  near  the  waves. 
Such  tiny  inhabitants  the  land  brought  forth! 
except  one  fox.  And  what  could  a  fox  do, 
looking  on  the  Atlantic  from  that  high  bank? 
What  is  the  sea  to  a  fox  ?  Sometimes  we  met  a 
wrecker  with  his  cart  and  dog,  —  and  his  dog's 
faint  bark  at  us  wayfarers,  heard  through  the 
roaring  of  the  surf,  sounded  ridiculously  faint. 
To  see  a  little  trembling  dainty -footed  cur  stand 
on  the  margin  of  the  ocean,  and  ineffectually 
bark  at  a  beach-bird,  amid  the  roar  of  the  At- 
lantic !  Come  with  design  to  bark  at  a  whale, 
perchance !  That  sound  will  do  for  farmyards. 
All  the  dogs  looked  out  of  place  there,  naked 
and  as  if  shuddering  at  the  vastness;  and  I 
thought  that  they  would  not  have  been  there  had 
it  not  been  for  the  countenance  of  their  masters. 
Still  less  could  you  think  of  a  cat  bending  her 
steps  that  way,  and  shaking  her  wet  foot  over 
the  Atlantic ;  yet  even  this  happens  sometimes, 
they  tell  me.  In  summer  I  saw  the  tender 
young  of  the  Piping  Plover,  like  chickens  just 


THE  SEA    AND   THE  DESERT        223 

liatchetl,  mere  pinches  of  down  on  two  legs, 
running  in  troops,  with  a  faint  peep,  along  the 
edge  of  the  waves.  I  used  to  see  packs  of  half- 
wild  dogs  haunting  the  lonely  beach  on  the 
south  shore  of  Staten  Island,  in  New  York  Bay, 
for  the  sake  of  the  carrion  there  cast  up ;  and  I 
remember  that  once,  when  for  a  long  time  I  had 
heard  a  furious  barking  in  the  tall  grass  of  the 
marsh,  a  pack  of  half  a  dozen  large  dogs  burst 
forth  on  to  the  beach,  pursuing  a  little  one 
which  ran  straight  to  me  for  protection,  and  I 
afforded  it  with  some  stones,  though  at  some 
risk  to  myself ;  but  the  next  day  the  little  one 
was  the  first  to  bark  at  me.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances I  could  not  but  remember  the  words 
of  the  poet :  — 

"Blow,  blow,  thou  winter  wind 
Thou  art  not  so  unkind 

As  his  ingratitude ; 
Thy  tooth  is  not  so  keen, 
Because  thou  art  not  seen, 

Although  thy  breath  be  rude. 

"  Freeze,  freeze,  thou  bitter  sky, 
Thou  dost  not  bite  so  nigh 

As  benefits  forgot ; 
Though  thou  the  waters  warp. 
Thy  sting  is  not  so  sharp 

As  friend  remembered  not." 

Sometimes,  when  I  was  approaching  the  car- 
cass of  a  horse  or  ox  which  lay  on  the  beach 


224  CAPE   COD 

there,  where  there  was  no  living  creature  in 
sight,  a  dog  would  unexpectedly  emerge  from  it 
and  slink  away  with  a  mouthful  of  offal. 

The  seashore  is  a  sort  of  neutral  groimd,  a 
most  advantageous  point  from  which  to  contem- 
plate this  world.  It  is  even  a  trivial  place. 
The  waves  forever  rolling  to  the  land  are  too 
far-traveled  and  untamable  to  be  familiar. 
Creeping  along  the  endless  beach  amid  the  sun- 
squawl  and  the  foam,  it  occurs  to  us  that  we, 
too,  are  the  product  of  sea-slime. 

It  is  a  wild,  rank  place,  and  there  is  no  flat- 
tery in  it.  Strewn  with  crabs,  horse-shoes,  and 
razor-clams,  and  whatever  the  sea  casts  up,  —  a 
vast  morgue,  where  famished  dogs  may  range  in 
packs,  and  crows  come  daily  to  glean  the  pit- 
tance which  the  tide  leaves  them.  The  carcasses 
of  men  and  beasts  together  lie  stately  up  upon 
its  shelf,  rotting  and  bleaching  in  the  sun  and 
waves,  and  each  tide  turns  them  in  their  beds, 
and  tucks  fresh  sand  under  them.  There  is 
naked  Nature,  —  inhumanly  sincere,  wasting  no 
thought  on  man,  nibbling  at  the  cliffy  shore 
where  gulls  wheel  amid  the  spray. 

AVe  saw  this  forenoon  what,  at  a  distance, 
looked  like  a  bleached  log  with  a  branch  still 
left  on  it.  It  proved  to  be  one  of  the  principal 
bones  of  a  whale,  whose  carcass,  having  been 
stripped  of  blubber  at  sea  and  cut  adrift,  had 


THE  SEA   AND   THE  DESERT        225 

been  washed  up  some  months  before.  It 
chanced  that  this  was  the  most  conclusive  evi- 
dence which  we  met  with  to  prove,  what  the 
Copenhagen  antiquaries  assert,  that  these  shores 
were  the  Furdustrandas,  which  Thorhall,  the 
companion  of  Thorfinn  during  his  expedition  to 
Vinland  in  1007,  sailed  past  in  disgust.  It  ap- 
pears that  after  they  had  left  the  Cape  and  ex- 
plored the  country  about  Straum-Fiordr  (Buz- 
zard's Bay!),  Thorhall,  who  was  disappointed 
at  not  getting  any  wine  to  drink  there,  deter- 
mined to  sail  north  again  in  search  of  Vinland. 
Though  the  antiquaries  have  given  us  the  origi- 
nal Icelandic,  I  prefer  to  quote  their  translation, 
since  theirs  is  the  only  Latin  which  I  know  to 
have  been  aimed  at  Cape  Cod. 

"  Cum  parati  erant,  sublato 
velo,  cecinit  Thorhallus : 
E6  redeainus,  uLi  eonterranei 
sunt  nostri !  f  aciamus  aliter, 
expansi  arenosi  peritmn, 
lata  navis  explorare  curricula ; 
dum  procellam  incitantes  gladii 
morse  impatientes,  qui  terrain 
collaudant,  Furdustrandas 
inhabitant  et  coquunt  balaenas." 

In  other  words,  "When  they  were  ready  and 
their  sail  hoisted,  Thorhall  sang :  Let  us  return 
thither  where  our  fellow-countrymen  are.  Let 
us  make   a  bird^   skillful  to  fly  through  the 

^  P.  e.,  a  vessel. 


226  CAPE   COD 

heaven  of  sand,^  to  explore  the  broad  track  of 
ships ;  while  warriors  who  impel  to  the  tempest 
of  swords, 2  who  praise  the  land,  inhabit  Won- 
der Strands,  a7id  cook  whales.""  And  so  he 
sailed  north  past  Cape  Cod,  as  the  antiquaries 
say,  "and  was  shipwrecked  on  to  Ireland." 

Though  once  there  were  more  whales  cast  up 
here,  I  think  that  it  was  never  more  wild  than 
now.  We  do  not  associate  the  idea  of  antiquity 
with  the  ocean,  nor  wonder  how  it  looked  a 
thousand  years  ago,  as  we  do  of  the  land,  for  it 
was  equally  wild  and  unfathomable  always. 
The  Indians  have  left  no  traces  on  its  surface, 
but  it  is  the  same  to  the  civilized  man  and  the 
savage.  The  asj)ect  of  the  shore  only  has 
changed.  The  ocean  is  a  wilderness  reaching 
round  the  globe,  wilder  than  a  Bengal  jungle, 
and  fuller  of  monsters,  washing  the  very 
wharves  of  our  cities  and  the  gardens  of  our 
seaside  residences.  Serpents,  bears,  hyenas^ 
tigers,  rapidly  vanish  as  civilization  advances, 
but  the  most  populous  and  civilized  city  cannot 
scare  a  shark  far  from  its  wharves.  It  is  no 
further  advanced  than  Singapore,  with  its  ti- 
gers, in  this  respect.  The  Boston  paj^ers  had 
never  told  me  that  there  were  seals  in  the  har- 

1  The  sea,  -which  is  arched  over  its  sandy  bottom  like  a 
heaven. 

2  Battle. 


THE  SEA   AND   THE  DESERT       227 

bor.  I  had  always  associated  these  with  the 
Esquimaux  and  other  outlandish  people.  Yet 
from  the  parlor  windows  all  along  the  coast  you 
may  see  families  of  them  sporting  on  the  flats. 
They  were  as  strange  to  me  as  the  merman 
would  be.  Ladies  who  never  walk  in  the  woods, 
sail  over  the  sea.  To  go  to  sea !  Why,  it  is  to 
have  the  experience  of  Noah,  —  to  realize  the 
deluge.     Every  vessel  is  an  ark. 

We  saw  no  fences  as  we  walked  the  beach, 
no  birchen  riders,  highest  of  rails,  projecting 
into  the  sea  to  keep  the  cows  from  wading 
round,  nothing  to  remind  us  that  man  was  pro- 
prietor of  the  shore.  Yet  a  Truro  man  did  tell 
us  that  owners  of  land  on  the  east  side  of  that 
town  were  regarded  as  owning  the  beach,  in  or- 
der that  they  might  have  the  control  of  it  so  far 
as  to  defend  themselves  against  the  encroach- 
ments of  the  sand  and  the  beach-grass,  —  for 
even  this  friend  is  sometimes  regarded  as  a  foe ; 
but  he  said  that  this  was  not  the  case  on  the 
Bay  side.  Also  I  have  seen  in  sheltered  parts 
of  the  Bay,  temporary  fences  running  to  low- 
water  mark,  the  posts  being  set  in  sills  or  sleep- 
ers placed  transversely. 

After  we  had  been  walking  many  hours,  the 
mackerel  fleet  still  hovered  in  the  northern  hori- 
zon nearly  in  the  same  direction,  but  farther  off, 
hull  down.     Though  their  sails   were  set  they 


228  CAPE  COB 

never  sailed  away,  nor  yet  came  to  anchor,  but 
stood  on  various  tacks  as  close  together  as  ves- 
sels in  a  haven,  and  we,  in  our  ignorance, 
thought  that  they  were  contending  patiently 
with  adverse  winds,  beating  eastward;  but  w(. 
learned  afterward  that  they  were  even  then  on 
their  fishing-ground,  and  that  they  caught  mack- 
erel without  taking  in  their  mainsails  or  coming 
to  anchor,  "a  smart  breeze"  (thence  called  a 
mackerel  breeze)  "being,"  as  one  says,  "con- 
sidered most  favorable  "  for  this  purpose.  We 
counted  about  two  hundred  sail  of  mackerel 
fishers  within  one  small  arc  of  the  horizon,  and 
a  nearly  equal  number  had  disappeared  south- 
ward. Thus  they  hovered  about  the  extremity 
of  the  Cape,  like  moths  round  a  candle;  the 
lights  at  Race  Point  and  Long  Point  being 
bright  candles  for  them  at  night,  —  and  at  this 
distance  they  looked  fair  and  white,  as  if  they 
had  not  yet  flown  into  the  light,  but  nearer  at 
hand  afterward,  we  saw  how  some  had  formerly 
singed  their  wings  and  bodies. 

A  village  seems  thus,  where  its  able-bodied 
men  are  all  ploughing  the  ocean  together,  as  a 
common  field.  In  North  Truro  the  women  and 
girls  may  sit  at  their  doors,  and  see  where  their 
husbands  and  brothers  are  harvesting  their 
mackerel  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  off,  on  the  sea, 
with  hundreds  of  white  harvest  wagons,  just  as 


THE  SEA   AND   THE  DESERT        229 

in  the  country  the  farmers'  wives  sometimes  see 
their  husbands  working  in  a  distant  hillside 
field.  But  the  sound  of  no  dinner-horn  can 
reach  the  fisher's  ear. 

Having  passed  the  narrowest  part  of  the  waist 
of  the  Cape,  though  still  in  Truro,  for  this 
township  is  about  twelve  miles  long  on  the 
shore,  we  crossed  over  to  the  Bay  side,  not  half 
a  mile  distant,  in  order  to  spend  the  noon  on 
the  nearest  shrubby  sand-hill  in  Provincetown, 
called  Mount  Ararat,  which  rises  one  hundred 
feet  above  the  ocean.  On  our  way  thither  we 
had  occasion  to  admire  the  various  beautiful 
forms  and  colors  of  the  sand,  and  we  noticed  an 
interesting  mirage,  which  I  have  since  found 
that  Hitchcock  also  observed  on  the  sands  of  the 
Cape.  We  were  crossing  a  shallow  valley  in 
the  desert,  where  the  smooth  and  spotless  sand 
sloped  upward  by  a  small  angle  to  the  horizon 
on  every  side,  and  at  the  lowest  part  was  a  long 
chain  of  clear  but  shallow  pools.  As  we  were 
approaching  these  for  a  drink,  in  a  diagonal  di- 
rection across  the  valley,  they  appeared  inclined 
at  a  slight  but  decided  angle  to  the  horizon, 
though  they  were  plainly  and  broadly  connected 
with  one  another,  and  there  was  not  the  least 
ripple  to  suggest  a  current ;  so  that  by  the  time 
we  had  reached  a  convenient  part  of  one  we 
seemed  to  have  ascended  several  feet.     They 


230  CAPE   COD 

appeared  to  lie  by  magic  on  the  side  of  the  vale, 
like  a  mirror  left  in  a  slanting  position.  It  was 
a  very  pretty  mirage  for  a  Provincetown  desert, 
but  not  amounting  to  what,  in  Sanscrit,  is 
called  "the  thirst  of  the  gazelle,"  as  there  was 
real  water  here  for  a  base,  and  we  were  able  to 
quench  our  thirst  after  all. 

Professor  Rafn,  of  Copenhagen,  thinks  that 
the  mirage  which  I  noticed,  but  which  an  old 
inhabitant  of  Provincetown,  to  whom  I  men- 
tioned it,  had  never  seen  nor  heard  of,  had 
something  to  do  with  the  name  "Furdustrandas," 
i.  e.,  Wonder  Strands,  given,  as  I  have  said,  in 
the  old  Icelandic  account  of  Thorfinn's  expedi- 
tion to  Vinland  in  the  year  1007,  to  a  part  of 
the  coast  on  which  he  landed.  But  these  sands 
are  more  remarkable  for  their  length  than  for 
their  mirage,  which  is  common  to  all  deserts, 
and  the  reason  for  the  name  which  the  North- 
men themselves  give  —  "  because  it  took  a  long 
time  to  sail  by  them"  —  is  sufficient  and  more 
applicable  to  these  shores.  However,  if  you 
should  sail  all  the  way  from  Greenland  to  Buz- 
zard's Bay  along  the  coast,  you  would  get  sight 
of  a  good  many  sandy  beaches.  But  whether 
Thor-finn  saw  the  mirage  here  or  not,  Thor-eau, 
one  of  the  same  family,  did;  and  perchance  it 
was  because  Lief  the  Luck}^  had,  in  a  previous 
voyage,  taken  Thor-er  and  his  people   off  the 


THE  SEA   AND    THE  DESERT        231 

rock  in  the  middle  of  the  sea,  that  Thor-eau 
was  born  to  see  it. 

This  was  not  the  only  mirage  which  I  saw  on 
the  Cape.  That  half  of  the  beach  next  the  bank 
is  commonly  level,  or  nearly  so,  while  the  other 
slopes  downward  to  the  water.  As  I  was  walk- 
ing upon  the  edge  of  the  bank  in  Wellfleet  at 
sundown,  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  inside  half  of 
the  beach  sloped  upward  toward  the  water  to 
meet  the  other,  forming  a  ridge  ten  or  twelve 
feet  high  the  whole  length  of  the  shore,  but 
higher  always  opposite  to  where  I  stood ;  and  I 
was  not  convinced  of  the  contrary  till  I  de- 
scended the  bank,  though  the  shaded  outlines 
left  by  the  waves  of  a  previous  tide  but  halfway 
down  the  apparent  declivity  might  have  taught 
me  better.  A  stranger  may  easily  detect  what 
is  strange  to  the  oldest  inhabitant,  for  the 
strange  is  his  province.  The  old  oysterman, 
speaking  of  gull-shooting,  had  said  that  you 
must  aim  under,  when  firing  down  the  bank. 

A  neighbor  tells  me  that  one  August,  looking 
through  a  glass  from  Naushon  to  some  vessels 
which  were  sailing  along  near  Martha's  Vine- 
yard, the  water  about  them  appeared  perfectly 
smooth,  so  that  they  were  reflected  in  it,  and 
yet  their  full  sails  proved  that  it  must  be  rip- 
pled, and  they  who  were  with  him  thought  that 
it  was  a  mirage,  I.  e.,  a  reflection  from  a  haze. 


232  CAPE   COD 

From  the  above-mentioned  sand-liill  we  over- 
looked Provincetown  and  its  harbor,  now  emp- 
tied of  vessels,  and  also  a  wide  expanse  of 
ocean.  As  we  did  not  wish  to  enter  Province- 
town  before  night,  though  it  was  cold  and  windy, 
we  returned  across  the  deserts  to  the  Atlantic 
side,  and  walked  along  the  beach  again  nearly 
to  Race  Point,  being  still  greedy  of  the  sea  in- 
fluence. All  the  while  it  was  not  so  calm  as  the 
reader  may  suppose,  but  it  was  blow,  blow, 
blow,  —  roar,  roar,  roar,  —  tramp,  tramp, 
tramp,  —  without  interruption.  The  shore  now 
trended  nearly  east  and  west. 

Before  sunset,  having  already  seen  the  mack- 
erel fleet  returning  into  the  Bay,  we  left  the  sea- 
shore on  the  north  of  Provincetown,  and  made 
our  way  across  the  desert  to  the  eastern  extrem- 
ity of  the  toA\'n.  From  the  first  high  sand-hill, 
covered  with  beach-gi-ass  and  bushes  to  its  top, 
on  the  edge  of  the  desert,  we  overlooked  the 
shrubby  hill  and  swamj)  country  which  surrounds 
Provincetown  on  the  north,  and  protects  it,  in 
some  measure,  from  the  invading  sand.  Not- 
withstanding the  universal  barrenness,  and  the 
contiguity  of  the  desert,  I  never  saw  an  au- 
tumnal landscape  so  beautifully  painted  as  this 
was.  It  was  like  the  richest  rug  imaginable 
spread  over  an  uneven  surface ;  no  damask  nor 
velvet,  nor  Tyrian  dye  or  stuffs,  nor  the  work 


THE  SEA   AND   THE  DESERT        233 

of  any  loom,  could  ever  match  it.  There  was 
the  incredibly  bright  red  of  the  Huckleberry, 
and  the  reddish  bi-own  of  the  Bayberry,  mingled 
with  the  bright  and  living  green  of  small  Pitch- 
Pines,  and  also  the  duller  green  of  the  Bay- 
berry,  Boxberry,  and  Plum,  the  yellowish  green 
of  the  Shrub-Oaks,  and  the  various  golden  and 
yellow  and  fawn-colored  tints  of  the  Birch  and 
Maple  and  Aspen,  —  each  making  its  own  fig- 
ure, and,  in  the  midst,  the  few  yellow  sand- 
slides  on  the  sides  of  the  hills  looked  like  the 
white  floor  seen  through  rents  in  the  rug;.  Com- 
ing  from  the  country  as  I  did,  and  many  au- 
tumnal woods  as  I  had  seen,  this  was  perhaps 
the  most  novel  and  remarkable  sight  that  I  saw 
on  the  Cape.  Probably  the  brightness  of  the 
tints  was  enhanced  by  contrast  with  the  sand 
which  surrounded  this  tract.  This  was  a  part 
of  the  furniture  of  Cape  Cod.  We  had  for 
days  walked  up  the  long  and  bleak  piazza  which 
runs  along  her  Atlantic  side,  then  over  the 
sanded  floor  of  her  halls,  and  now  we  were  be- 
ing introduced  into  her  boudoir.  The  hundred 
white  sails  crowding  round  Long  Point  into 
Provincetown  Harbor,  seen  over  the  painted 
hills  in  front,  looked  like  toy  ships  upon  a  man- 
tel-piece. 

The  peculiarity  of  this   autumnal  landscape 
consisted  in  the  lowness   and  thickness   of  the 


234  CAPE   COD 

shrubbery,  no  less  than  in  the  brightness  of  the 
tints.  It  was  like  a  thick  stuff  of  worsted  or  a 
fleece,  and  looked  as  if  a  giant  could  take  it  up 
by  the  hem,  or  rather  the  tasseled  fringe  which 
trailed  out  on  the  sand,  and  shake  it,  though  it 
needed  not  to  be  shaken.  But  no  doubt  the 
dust  would  fly  in  that  case,  for  not  a  little  has 
accumulated  underneath  it.  Was  it  not  such 
an  autumnal  landscape  as  this  which  suggested 
our  high-colored  rugs  and  carpets  ?  Hereafter 
when  I  look  on  a  richer  rug  than  usual,  and 
study  its  figures,  I  shall  think,  there  are  the 
huckleberry  hills,  and  there  the  denser  swamps 
of  boxberry  and  blueberry ;  there  the  shrub-oak 
patches  and  the  bayberries,  there  the  maples 
and  the  birches  and  the  pines.  What  other 
dyes  are  to  be  compared  to  these?  They  were 
warmer  colors  than  I  had  associated  with  the 
New  England  coast. 

After  threading  a  swamp  full  of  boxberry, 
and  climbing  several  hills  covered  with  shrub- 
oaks,  without  a  path,  where  shipwrecked  men 
would  be  in  danger  of  perishing  in  the  night, 
we  came  down  upon  the  eastern  extremity  of  the 
four  planks  which  run  the  whole  length  of  Pro- 
vincetown  street.  This,  which  is  the  last  town 
on  the  Cape,  lies  mainly  in  one  street  along  the 
curvinsr  beach  fronting-  the  southeast.  The 
sand-hills,   covered   with  shrubbery  and  inter- 


THE  SEA   AND   THE  DESERT        235 

posed  with  swamps  and  ponds,  rose  Immediately 
behind  it  in  the  form  of  a  crescent,  which  is 
from  half  a  mile  to  a  mile  or  more  wide  in  the 
middle,  and  beyond  these  is  the  desert,  which  is 
the  greater  part  of  its  territory,  stretching  to 
the  sea  on  the  east  and  west  and  north.  The 
town  is  compactly  built  in  the  narrow  space, 
from  ten  to  fifty  rods  deep,  between  the  harbor 
and  the  sand-hills,  and  contained  at  that  time 
about  twenty-six  hundred  inhabitants.  The 
houses,  in  which  a  more  modern  and  pretending 
style  has  at  length  prevailed  over  the  fisher- 
man's hut,  stand  on  the  inner  or  plank  side  of 
the  street,  and  the  fish  and  store  houses,  with 
the  picturesque -looking  windmills  of  the  Salt- 
works, on  the  water  side.  The  narrow  portion 
of  the  beach  between  forming  the  street,  about 
eighteen  feet  wide,  the  only  one  where  one  car- 
riage could  pass  another,  if  there  was  more  than 
one  carriage  in  the  town,  looked  much  "heav- 
ier "  than  any  portion  of  the  beach  or  the  desert 
which  we  had  walked  on,  it  being  above  the 
reach  of  the  highest  tide,  and  the  sand  being 
kept  loose  by  the  occasional  passage  of  a  trav- 
eler. We  learned  that  the  four  planks  on  which 
we  were  walking  had  been  bought  by  the  town's 
share  of  the  Surplus  Revenue,  the  disposition 
of  which  was  a  bone  of  contention  between  the 
inhabitants,  till  they  wisely  resolved  thus  to  put 


236  CAPE   COD 

it  under  foot.  Yet  some,  it  was  said,  were  so 
provoked  because  they  did  not  receive  their 
particular  share  in  money,  that  they  persisted 
in  walking  in  the  sand  a  long  time  after  the 
sidewalk  was  built.  This  is  the  only  instance 
which  I  happen  to  know  in  which  the  surplus 
revenue  proved  a  blessing  to  any  town.  A  sur- 
plus revenue  of  dollars  from  the  treasury  to 
stem  the  greater  evil  of  a  surplus  revenue  of 
sand  from  the  ocean.  They  expected  to  make 
a  hard  road  by  the  time  these  planks  were  worn 
out.  Indeed,  they  have  already  done  so  since 
we  were  there,  and  have  almost  forgotten  their 
sandy  baptism. 

As  we  passed  along  we  observed  the  inhabi- 
tants engaged  in  curing  either  fish  or  the  coarse 
salt  hay  which  they  had  brought  home  and 
spread  on  the  beach  before  their  doors,  looking 
as  yellow  as  if  they  had  raked  it  out  of  the  sea. 
The  front-yard  plots  appeared  like  what  indeed 
they  were,  portions  of  the  beach  fenced  in,  with 
beach-grass  growing  in  them,  as  if  they  were 
sometimes  covered  by  the  tide.  You  might  still 
pick  up  shells  and  pebbles  there.  There  were  a 
few  trees  among  the  houses,  especially'-  silver 
abeles,  willows,  and  balm-of-Gileads ;  and  one 
man  showed  me  a  young  oak  which  he  had 
transplanted  from  behind  the  town,  thinking  it 
an    apple-tree.     But   every  man   to   his  trade. 


THE  SEA   AND   THE  DESERT        237 

Though  he  had  little  woodcraft,  he  was  not  the 
less  weatherwise,  and  gave  us  one  piece  of  in- 
formation, viz.,  he  had  observed  that  when  a 
thunder-cloud  came  up  with  a  flood-tide  it  did 
not  rain.  This  was  the  most  completely  mari- 
time town  that  we  were  ever  in.  It  was  merely 
a  good  harbor,  surrounded  by  land,  dry  if  not 
firm, — an  inhabited  beach,  whereon  fishermen 
cured  and  stored  their  fish,  without  any  back 
country.  When  ashore  the  inhabitants  still 
walk  on  planks.  A  few  small  patches  have  been 
reclaimed  from  the  swamps,  containing  com- 
monly half  a  dozen  square  rods  only  each.  We 
saw  one  which  was  fenced  with  four  lengths  of 
rail;  also  a  fence  made  wholly  of  hogshead 
staves  stuck  in  the  ground.  These,  and  such  as 
these,  were  all  the  cultivated  and  cultivable  land 
in  Provincetown.  We  were  told  that  there 
were  thirty  or  forty  acres  in  all,  but  we  did  not 
discover  a  quarter  part  so  much,  and  that  was 
well  dusted  with  sand,  and  looked  as  if  the  des- 
ert was  claiming  it.  They  are  now  turning 
some  of  their  swamps  into  Cranberry  Meadows 
on  quite  an  extensive  scale. 

Yet  far  from  being  out  of  the  way,  Province- 
town  is  directly  in  the  way  of  the  navigator, 
and  he  is  lucky  who  does  not  run  afoul  of  it  in 
the  dark.  It  is  situated  on  one  of  the  highways 
of  commerce,  and  men  from  all  parts  of  the 
globe  touch  there  in  the  course  of  a  year. 


238  CAPE   COD 

The  mackerel  fleet  had  nearly  all  got  in  be- 
fore us,  it  being  Saturday  night,  excepting  that 
division  which  had  stood  down  towards  Chatham 
in  the  morning ;  and  from  a  hill  where  we  went 
to  see  the  sun  set  in  the  Bay,  we  counted  two 
hundred  goodly  looking  schooners  at  anchor  in 
the  harbor  at  various  distances  from  the  shore, 
and  more  were  yet  coming  rovind  the  Cape.  As 
each  came  to  anchor,  it  took  in  sail  and  swung 
round  in  the  wind,  and  lowered  its  boat.  They 
belonged  chiefly  to  Wellfleet,  Truro,  and  Cape 
Ann.  This  was  that  city  of  canvas  which  we 
had  seen  hull  down  in  the  horizon.  Near  at 
hand,  and  under  bare  poles,  they  were  unex- 
pectedly black-looking  vessels,  ixikaivai  vrje<s.  A 
fisherman  told  us  that  there  were  fifteen  hun- 
dred vessels  in  the  mackerel  fleet,  and  that  he 
had  counted  three  Tiundred  and  fifty  in  Province- 
town  Harbor  at  one  time.  Being  obliged  to 
anchor  at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  shore 
on  account  of  the  shallowness  of  the  water,  they 
made  the  impression  of  a  larger  fleet  than  the 
vessels  at  the  wharves  of  a  large  city.  As  they 
had  been  manoeuvring  out  there  all  day  seem- 
ingly for  our  entertainment,  while  we  were  walk- 
ing northwestward  along  the  Atlantic,  so  now 
we  found  them  flocking  into  Provincetown  Har- 
bor at  night,  just  as  we  arrived,  as  if  to  meet 
us,  and  exhibit  themselves  close  at  hand.    Stand- 


THE  SEA   AND   THE  DESERT        239 

ing  by  Race  Point  and  Long  Point  with  various 
speed,  they  reminded  me  of  fowls  coming  home 
to  roost. 

These  were  genuine  New  England  vessels.  It 
is  stated  in  the  Journal  of  Moses  Prince,  a 
brother  of  the  annalist,  under  date  of  1721,  at 
which  time  he  visited  Gloucester,  that  the  first 
vessel  of  the  class  called  schooner  was  built  at 
Gloucester  about  eight  years  before,  by  Andrew 
Robinson;  and  late  in  the  same  century  one 
Cotton  Tufts  gives  us  the  tradition  with  some 
particulars,  which  he  learned  on  a  visit  to  the 
same  place.  According  to  the  latter,  Robinson 
having  constructed  a  vessel  which  he  masted 
and  rigged  in  a  peculiar  manner,  on  her  going 
off  the  stocks  a  by-stander  cried  out,  "  Oh,  how 
she  scoons/^^  whereat  Robinson  replied,  "J. 
schooner  let  her  he!''''  "From  which  time," 
says  Tufts,  "vessels  thus  masted  and  rigged 
have  gone  by  the  name  of  schooners;  before 
which,  vessels  of  this  description  were  not  known 
in  Europe."  ^  Yet  I  can  hardly  believe  this,  for 
a  schooner  has  always  seemed  to  me  —  the  typi- 
cal vessel. 

According  to  C.  E.  Potter  of  Manchester, 
New  Hampshire,  the  very  word  schooner  is  of 
New  England  origin,   being   from   the   Indian 

^  See  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  vol.  ix.,  1st  aeries,  and  vol.  i.,  4th 
series. 


240  CAPE   COD 

schoon  or  scoot,  meaning  to  rush,  as  Sehoodic, 
from  scoot  and  anlce,  a  place  where  water  rushes. 
N.  B.  Somebody  of  Gloucester  was  to  read  a 
paper  on  this  matter  before  a  genealogical  soci- 
ety in  Boston,  March  3,  1859,  according  to  the 
Boston  Journal,  q.  v. 

Nearly  all  who  come  out  must  walk  on  the 
four  planks  which  I  have  mentioned,  so  that 
you  are  pretty  sure  to  meet  all  the  inhabitants 
of  Provincetown  who  come  out  in  the  course  of 
a  day,  provided  you  keep  out  yourself.  This 
evening  the  planks  were  crowded  with  mackerel 
fishers,  to  whom  we  gave  and  from  whom  we 
took  the  wall,  as  we  returned  to  our  hotel.  This 
hotel  was  kept  by  a  tailor,  his  shop  on  the  one 
side  of  the  door,  his  hotel  on  the  other,  and  his 
day  seemed  to  be  divided  between  carving  meat 
and  carving  broadcloth. 

The  next  morning,  though  it  was  still  more 
cold  and  blustering  than  the  day  before,  we  took 
to  the  deserts  again,  for  we  spent  our  days 
wholly  out  of  doors,  in  the  sun  when  there  was 
any,  and  in  the  wind  which  never  failed.  After 
threading  the  shrubby  hill-country  at  the  south- 
west end  of  the  town,  west  of  the  Shank-Painter 
Swamp,  whose  expressive  name  —  for  we  under- 
stood it  at  first  as  a  landsman  naturally  woidd 
—  gave  it  importance  in  our  eyes,  we  crossed 
the  sands  to  the  shore  south  of  Race  Point  and 


THE  SEA   AND   THE  DESERT        241 

three  miles  distant,  and  thence  roamed  round 
eastward  through  the  desert  to  where  we  had 
left  the  sea  the  evenijig  before.  We  traveled 
five  or  six  miles  after  we  got  out  there,  on  a  curv- 
ing line,  and  might  have  gone  nine  or  ten,  over 
vast  platters  of  pure  sand,  from  the  midst  of 
which  we  could  not  see  a  particle  of  vegetation, 
excepting  the  distant  thin  fields  of  beach-grass, 
which  crowned  and  made  the  ridges  toward 
which  the  sand  sloped  upward  on  each  side; 
—  all  the  while  in  the  face  of  a  cutting  wind  as 
cold  as  January;  indeed,  we  experienced  no 
weather  so  cold  as  this  for  nearly  two  months 
afterward.  This  desert  extends  from  the  ex- 
tremity of  the  Cape,  through  Provincetown  into 
Truro,  and  many  a  time  as  we  were  traversing 
it  we  were  reminded  of  "Riley's  Narrative  "  of 
his  captivity  in  the  sands  of  Arabia,  notwith- 
standing the  cold.  Our  eyes  magnified  the 
patches  of  beach-grass  into  cornfields,  in  the 
horizon,  and  we  probably  exaggerated  the  height 
of  the  ridges  on  account  of  the  mirage.  I  was 
pleased  to  learn  afterward,  from  Kalm's  Travels 
in  North  America,  that  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Lower  St.  Lawrence  call  this  grass  (^Calama- 
grostis  arenarici),  and  also  Sea-lyme  grass  {Ely- 
vius  arenarius),  seigle  de  mer;  and  he  adds,  "I 
have  been  assured  that  these  plants  grow  in 
great   plenty   in   Newfoundland,   and  on  other 


242  CAPE   COD 

North  American  shores ;  the  places  covered  with 
them  looking,  at  a  distance,  like  cornfields; 
which  might  explain  the  passage  in  our  north- 
ern accounts  [he  wrote  in  1749]  of  the  excellent 
wine  land  [  Vinland  det  goda.  Translator],  which 
mentions  that  they  had  found  whole  fields  of 
wheat  growing  wild." 

The  beach-grass  is  "two  to  four  feet  high,  of 
a  sea-green  color,"  and  it  is  said  to  be  widely 
diffused  over  the  world.  In  the  Hebrides  it  is 
used  for  mats,  pack-saddles,  bags,  hats,  etc. ; 
paper  has  been  made  of  it  at  Dorchester  in  this 
State,  and  cattle  eat  it  when  tender.  It  has 
heads  somewhat  like  rye,  from  six  inches  to  a 
foot  in  length,  and  it  is  propagated  both  by 
roots  and  seeds.  To  exj^ress  its  love  for  sand, 
some  botanists  have  called  it  Psamma  arenaria^ 
which  is  the  Greek  for  sand,  qualified  by  the 
Latin  for  sandy,  —  or  sandy  sand.  As  it  is 
blown  about  by  the  wind,  while  it  is  held  fast 
by  its  roots,  it  describes  myriad  circles  in  the 
sand  as  accurately  as  if  they  were  made  by  com- 
passes. 

It  was  the  dreariest  scenery  imaginable.  The 
only  animals  which  we  saw  on  the  sand  at  that 
time  were  spiders,  which  are  to  be  found  almost 
everywhere  whether  on  snow  or  ice,  water  or 
sand,  —  and  a  venomous-looking,  long,  narrow 
worm,  one  of  the  myriapods,  or  thousand-legs. 


THE  SEA   AND   THE  DESERT        243 

We  were  surprised  to  see  spider-holes  in  that 
flowing  sand  with  an  edge  as  firm  as  that  of  a 
stoned  well. 

In  Jvine  this  sand  was  scored  with  the  tracks 
of  turtles  both  large  and  small,  which  had  been 
out  in  the  night,  leading  to  and  from  the 
swamps.  I  was  told  by  a  terrcejilius  who  has  a 
"farm"  on  the  edge  of  the  desert,  and  is  fami- 
liar with  the  fame  of  Provincetown,  that  one 
man  had  caught  twenty-five  snapping-turtles 
there  the  previous  spring.  His  own  method  of 
catching  them  was  to  put  a  toad  on  a  mackerel- 
hook  and  cast  it  into  a  pond,  tying  the  line  to  a 
stump  or  stake  on  shore.  Invariably  the  turtle 
when  hooked  crawled  up  the  line  to  the  stump, 
and  was  found  waiting  there  by  his  captor,  how- 
ever long  afterward.  He  also  said  that  minks, 
muskrats,  foxes,  coons,  and  wild  mice  were 
found  there,  but  no  squirrels.  We  heard  of 
sea-turtles  as  large  as  a  barrel  being  found  on 
the  beach  and  on  East  Harbor  marsh,  but 
whether  they  were  native  there,  or  had  been  lost 
out  of  some  vessel,  did  not  appear.  Perhaps 
they  were  the  Salt-water  Terrapin,  or  else  the 
Smooth  Terrapin,  found  thus  far  north.  Many 
toads  were  met  with  where  there  was  nothing 
but  sand  and  beach-grass.  In  Truro  I  had  been 
surprised  at  the  number  of  large  light-colored 
toads   everywhere   hopping   over   the   dry   and 


244  CAPE   COD 

sandy  fields,  their  color  corresponding  to  that 
of  the  sand.  Snakes  also  are  common  on  these 
pure  sand  beaches,  and  I  have  never  been  so 
much  troubled  by  mosquitoes  as  in  such  locali- 
ties. At  the  same  season  strawberries  grew 
there  abundantly  in  the  little  hollows  on  the 
edge  of  the  desert,  standing  amid  the  beach- 
grass  in  the  sand,  and  the  fruit  of  the  shad-bush 
or  Amelajichiet\  which  the  inhabitants  call 
Josh-pears  (some  think  from  juicy?),  is  very 
abundant  on  the  hills.  I  fell  in  with  an  oblig- 
ing man  who  conducted  me  to  the  best  locality 
for  strawberries.  He  said  that  he  would  not 
have  shown  me  the  place  if  he  had  not  seen  that 
I  was  a  stranger,  and  could  not  anticipate  him 
another  year;  I  therefore  feel  bound  in  honor 
not  to  reveal  it.  When  we  came  to  a  pond,  he 
being  the  native  did  the  honors  and  carried  me 
over  on  his  shoulders,  like  Sindbad.  One  good 
turn  deserves  another,  and  if  he  ever  comes  our 
way,  I  will  do  as  much  for  him. 

In  one  place  we  saw  numerous  dead  tops  of 
trees  projecting  through  the  otherwise  uninter- 
rupted desert,  where,  as  we  afterward  learned, 
thirty  or  forty  years  before  a  flourishing  forest 
had  stood,  and  now,  as  the  trees  were  laid  bare 
from  year  to  year,  the  inhabitants  cut  off  their 
tops  for  fuel. 

We  saw  nobody  that  day  outside  of  the  town ; 


THE  SEA   AND  THE  DESERT        245 

it  was  too  wintry  for  such  as  had  seen  the  Back- 
side before,  or  for  the  greater  number  who  never 
desire  to  see  it,  to  venture  out;  and  we  saw 
hardly  a  track  to  show  that  any  had  ever  crossed 
this  desert.  Yet  I  was  told  that  some  are  al- 
ways out  on  the  Back-side  night  and  day  in  se- 
vere weather,  looking  for  wrecks,  in  order  that 
they  may  get  the  job  of  discharging  the  cargo, 
or  the  like,  —  and  thus  shipwrecked  men  are 
succored.  But,  generally  speaking,  the  inhabi- 
tants rarely  visit  these  sands.  One  who  had 
lived  in  Provincetown  thirty  years  told  me  that 
he  had  not  been  through  to  the  north  side  within 
that  time.  Sometimes  the  natives  themselves 
come  near  perishing  by  losing  their  way  in 
snow-storms  behind  the  town. 

The  wind  was  not  a  Sirocco  or  Simoon,  such 
as  we  associate  with  the  desert,  but  a  New  Eng- 
land northeaster,  —  and  we  sought  shelter  in 
vain  under  the  sand-hills,  for  it  blew  all  about 
them,  rounding  them  into  cones,  and  was  sure 
to  find  us  out  on  whichever  side  we  sat.  From 
time  to  time  we  lay  down  and  drank  at  little 
pools  in  the  sand,  filled  with  pure,  fresh  water, 
all  that  was  left,  probably,  of  a  pond  or  swamp. 
The  air  was  filled  with  dust  like  snow,  and  cut- 
ting sand  which  made  the  face  tingle,  and  we 
saw  what  it  must  be  to  face  it  when  the  weather 
was  drier,  and,   if  possible,   windier  still,  —  to 


246  CAPE   COD 

face  a  migrating  sand-bar  in  the  air,  which  has 
picked  lip  its  duds  and  is  off,  —  to  be  whijiped 
with  a  cat,  not  o'  nine-tails,  but  of  a  myriad  of 
tails,  and  each  one  a  sting  to  it.  A  Mr.  Whit- 
man, a  former  minister  of  Wellfleet,  used  to 
write  to  his  inland  friends  that  the  blowing  sand 
scratched  the  windows  so  that  he  was  obliged 
to  have  one  new  pane  set  every  week,  that  he 
might  see  out. 

On  the  edge  of  the  shrubby  woods  the  sand 
had  the  appearance  of  an  inundation  which  was 
overwhelming  them,  terminating  in  an  abrupt 
bank  many  feet  higher  than  the  surface  on 
which  they  stood,  and  having  partially  buried 
the  outside  trees.  The  moving  sand-hills  of 
England,  called  Dunes  or  Downs,  to  which 
these  have  been  likened,  are  either  formed  of 
sand  cast  up  by  the  sea,  or  of  sand  taken  from 
the  land  itself  in  the  first  place  by  the  wind, 
and  driven  still  farther  inward.  It  is  here  a 
tide  of  sand  impelled  by  waves  and  wind,  slowly 
flowing  from  the  sea  toward  the  town.  The 
northeast  winds  are  said  to  be  the  strongest,  but 
the  northwest  to  move  most  sand,  because  they 
are  the  driest.  On  the  shore  of  the  Bay  of  Bis- 
cay, many  villages  were  formerly  destroyed  in 
this  way.  Some  of  the  ridges  of  beach -grass 
which  we  saw  were  planted  by  government  many 
years  ago,  to  preserve  the  harbor  of  Province- 


THE   SEA    AND   THE  DESERT        247 

town  and  the  extremity  of  the  Cape.  I  talked 
with  some  who  had  been  employed  in  the  plant- 
ing. In  the  "Description  of  the  Eastern 
Coast,"  which  I  have  already  referred  to,  it  is 
said :  "  Beach-grass  during  the  spring  and  sum- 
mer grows  about  two  feet  and  a  half.  If  sur- 
rounded by  naked  beach,  the  storms  of  autumn 
and  winter  heap  up  the  sand  on  all  sides,  and 
cause  it  to  rise  nearly  to  the  top  of  the  plant. 
In  the  ensuing  spring  the  grass  sprouts  anew; 
is  again  covered  with  sand  in  the  winter;  and 
thus  a  hill  or  ridge  continues  to  ascend  as  long 
as  there  is  a  sufficient  base  to  support  it,  or  till 
the  circumscribing  sand,  being  also  covered 
with  beach-grass,  will  no  longer  yield  to  the 
force  of  the  winds."  Sand-hills  formed  in  this 
way  are  sometimes  one  hundred  feet  high  and  of 
every  variety  of  form,  like  snow-drifts,  or  Arab 
tents,  and  are  continually  shifting.  The  grass 
roots  itself  very  firmly.  When  I  endeavored 
to  pull  it  up,  it  usually  broke  off  ten  inches  or 
a  foot  below  the  surface,  at  what  had  been  the 
surface  the  year  before,  as  appeared  by  the 
numerous  offshoots  there,  it  being  a  straight, 
hard,  round  shoot,  showing  by  its  length  how 
much  the  sand  had  accumulated  the  last  year ; 
and  sometimes  the  dead  stubs  of  a  previous 
season  were  pvJled  up  with  it  from  still  deeper 
in  the  sand,  with  their  own  more  decayed  shoot 


248  CAPE   COD 

attached,  —  so  that  the  age  of  a  sand-hill,  and 
its  rate  of  increase  for  several  years,  is  pretty 
accurately  recorded  in  this  way. 

Old  Gerard,  the  English  herbalist,  says,  p. 
1250:  "I  find  mention  in  Stowe's  Chronicle,  in 
Anno  1555,  of  a  certain  pidse  or  pease,  as  they 
term  it,  wherewith  the  jjoor  people  at  tliat  time, 
there  being  a  great  dearth,  were  miraculously 
helped;  he  thus  mentions  it.  In  the  month  of 
August  (saith  he),  in  Suffolke,  at  a  place  by 
the  sea  side  all  of  hard  stone  and  pibble,  called 
in  those  parts  a  shelf,  lying  between  the  towns 
of  Orford  and  Aldborough,  where  neither  grew 
grass  nor  any  earth  was  ever  seen;  it  chanced 
in  this  barren  jjlace  suddenly  to  spring  up  with- 
out any  tillage  or  sowing,  great  abundance  of 
peason,  whereof  the  poor  gathered  (as  men 
judged)  above  one  hundred  quarters,  yet  re- 
mained some  ripe  and  some  blossoming,  as  many 
as  ever  there  were  before;  to  the  which  place 
rode  the  Bishop  of  Norwich  and  the  Lord 
Willoughby,  with  others  in  great  number,  who 
fomid  nothing  but  hard,  rocky  stone  the  space 
of  three  yards  under  the  roots  of  these  peason, 
which  roots  were  great  and  long,  and  very 
sweet."  He  tells  us  also  that  Gesner  learned 
from  Dr.  Cajus  that  there  were  enough  there  to 
supply  thousands  of  men.  He  goes  on  to  say 
that    "they  without    doubt  grew   there    many 


THE  SEA   AND   THE  DESERT        249 

years  before,  but  were  not  observed  till  hunger 
made  them  take  notice  of  them,  and  quickened 
their  invention,  which  commonly  in  our  people 
is  very  dull,  especially  in  finding  out  food  of 
this  nature.  My  worshipful  friend  Dr.  Argent 
hath  told  me  that  many  years  ago  he  was  in  this 
place,  and  caused  his  man  to  pull  among  the 
beach  with  his  hands,  and  follow  the  roots  so 
long  until  he  got  some  equal  in  length  unto  his 
height,  yet  could  come  to  no  ends  of  them." 
Gerard  never  saw  them,  and  is  not  certain  what 
kind  they  were. 

In  Dwight's  Travels  in  New  England  it  is 
stated  that  the  inhabitants  of  Truro  were  for- 
merly regularly  warned  under  the  authority  of 
law  in  the  month  of  April  yearly,  to  plant 
beach-grass,  as  elsewhere  they  are  warned  to  re- 
pair the  highways.  They  dug  up  the  grass  in 
bunches,  which  were  afterward  divided  into  sev- 
eral smaller  ones,  and  set  about  three  feet  apart, 
in  rows,  so  arranged  as  to  break  joints  and  ob- 
struct the  passage  of  the  wind.  It  spread  itself 
rapidly,  the  weight  of  the  seeds  when  ripe  bend- 
ing the  heads  of  the  grass,  and  so  dropping  di- 
rectly by  its  side  and  vegetating  there.  In  this 
way,  for  instance,  they  built  up  again  that  part 
of  the  Cape  between  Truro  and  Provincetown 
where  the  sea  broke  over  in  the  last  century. 
They  have  now  a  public  road  near  there,  made 


250  CAPE    COD 

by  laying  sods,  which  were  full  of  roots,  bottom 
upward  and  close  together  on  the  sand,  double 
in  the  middle  of  the  track,  then  spreading  brush 
evenly  over  the  sand  on  each  side  for  half  a 
dozen  feet,  planting  beach-grass  on  the  banks 
in  regialar  rows,  as  above  described,  and  sticking 
a  fence  of  brush  against  the  hollows. 

The  attention  of  the  general  government  was 
first  attracted  to  the  danger  which  threatened 
Cape  Cod  Harbor  from  the  inroads  of  the  sand, 
about  thirty  years  ago,  and  commissioners  were 
at  that  time  appointed  by  Massachusetts  to  ex- 
amine the  premises.  They  reported  in  June, 
1825,  that,  owing  to  "the  trees  and  brush  hav- 
ing been  cut  down,  and  the  beach-grass  de- 
stroyed on  the  seaward  side  of  the  Cape,  oppo- 
site the  Harbor,"  the  original  surface  of  the 
ground  had  been  broken  up  and  removed  by 
the  wind  toward  the  Harbor,  —  during  the  pre- 
vious fourteen  years,  —  over  an  extent  of  "  one 
half  a  mile  in  breadth,  and  about  four  and  a 
half  miles  in  length." — "The  space  where  a 
few  years  since  were  some  of  the  highest  lands 
on  the  Cape,  covered  with  trees  and  bushes," 
presenting  "an  extensive  waste  of  undulating 
sand;"  —  and  that,  during  the  previous  twelve 
months,  the  sand  "had  approached  the  Harbor 
an  average  distance  of  fifty  rods,  for  an  extent 
of  four  and  a   half   miles!"  and   imless   some 


THE  SEA   AND   THE  DESERT        251 

measures  were  adoj)ted  to  check  its  progress,  it 
would  in  a  few  years  destroy  both  the  harbor 
and  the  town.  They  therefore  recommended 
that  beach-grass  be  set  out  on  a  curving  line 
over  a  space  ten  rods  wide  and  four  and  a  half 
miles  long,  and  that  cattle,  horses,  and  sheep  be 
prohibited  from  going  abroad,  and  the  inhabi- 
tants from  cutting  the  br.ush. 

I  was  told  that  about  thirty  thousand  dollars 
in  all  had  been  appropriated  to  this  object, 
though  it  was  complained  that  a  great  part  of  it 
was  spent  foolishly,  as  the  public  money  is  wont 
to  be.  Some  say  that  while  the  government  is 
planting  beach-grass  behind  the  town  for  the 
protection  of  the  harbor,  the  inhabitants  are 
rolling  the  sand  into  the  harbor  in  wheelbarrows, 
in  order  to  make  house-lots.  The  Patent-Office 
has  recently  imported  the  seed  of  this  grass 
from  Holland,  and  distributed  it  over  the  coun- 
try, but  probably  we  have  as  much  as  the  Hol- 
landers. 

Thus  Cape  Cod  is  anchored  to  the  heavens, 
as  it  were,  by  a  myriad  little  cables  of  beach- 
grass,  and,  if  they  should  fail,  would  become  a 
total  wreck,  and  erelong  go  to  the  bottom. 
Formerly,  the  cows  were  permitted  to  go  at 
large,  and  they  ate  many  strands  of  the  cable 
by  which  the  Cape  is  moored,  and  well-nigh  set 
it  adrift,  as  the  bull  did  the  boat  which   was 


252  CAPE   COD 

moored  with  a  grass  rope ;  but  now  they  are  not 
permitted  to  wander. 

A  portion  of  Truro  which  has  considerable 
taxable  property  on  it  has  lately  been  added  to 
Provineetown,  and  I  was  told  by  a  Truro  man 
that  his  townsmen  talked  of  petitioning  the  legis- 
lature to  set  off  the  next  mile  of  their  territory 
also  to  Provineetown,  in  order  that  she  might 
have  her  share  of  the  lean  as  well  as  the  fat, 
and  take  care  of  the  road  through  it;  for  its 
whole  value  is  literally  to  hold  the  Cape  to- 
gether, and  even  this  it  has  not  always  done. 
But  Provineetown  strenuously  declines  the  gift. 

The  wind  blowed  so  hard  from  the  northeast, 
that,  cold  as  it  was,  we  resolved  to  see  the  break- 
ers on  the  Atlantic  side,  whose  din  we  had 
heard  all  the  morning;  so  we  kept  on  eastward 
through  the  desert,  till  we  struck  the  shore 
again  northeast  of  Provineetown,  and  exposed 
ourselves  to  the  full  force  of  the  piercing  blast. 
There  are  extensive  shoals  there  over  which  the 
sea  broke  with  great  force.  For  half  a  mile 
from  the  shore  it  was  one  mass  of  white  break- 
ers, which,  with  the  wind,  made  such  a  din  that 
we  could  hardly  hear  ourselves  speak.  Of  this 
part  of  the  coast  it  is  said :  "  A  northeast  storm, 
the  most  violent  and  fatal  to  seamen,  as  it  is 
frequently  accompanied  with  snow,  blows  di- 
rectly on  the  land:  a  strong  current  sets  along 


THE  SEA   AND   THE  DESERT        253 

the  shore:  add  to  which  that  ships,  during  the 
operation  of  such  a  storm,  endeavor  to  work 
northward,  that  they  may  get  into  the  bay. 
Should  they  be  unable  to  weather  Race  Point, 
the  wind  drives  them  on  the  shore,  and  a  ship- 
wreck is  inevitable.  Accordingly,  the  strand  is 
everywhere  covered  with  the  fragments  of  ves- 
sels." But  since  the  Highland  Light  was 
erected,  this  part  of  the  coast  is  less  dangerous, 
and  it  is  said  that  more  shipwrecks  occur  south 
of  that  light,  where  they  were  scarcely  known 
before. 

This  was  the  stormiest  sea  that  we  witnessed, 
—  more  timiultuous,  my  companion  affii*med, 
than  the  rapids  of  Niagara,  and,  of  course,  on 
a  far  greater  scale.  It  was  the  ocean  in  a  gale, 
a  clear,  cold  day,  with  only  one  sail  in  sight, 
which  labored  much,  as  if  it  were  anxiously 
seeking  a  harbor.  It  was  high  tide  when  we 
reached  the  shore,  and  in  one  place,  for  a  con- 
siderable distance,  each  wave  dashed  up  so  high 
that  it  was  difficult  to  pass  between  it  and  the 
bank.  Further  south,  where  the  bank  was 
higher,  it  would  have  been  dangerous  to  attempt 
it.  A  native  of  the  Cape  has  told  me,  that 
many  years  ago,  three  boys,  his  playmates,  hav- 
ing gone  to  this  beach  in  Wellfleet  to  visit  a 
wreck,  when  the  sea  receded  ran  down  to  the 
wreck,  and  when  it  came  in  ran  before  it  to  the 


254  CAPE   COD 

bank,  but  the  sea  following  fast  at  their  heels, 
caused  the  bank  to  cave  and  bury  them  alive. 
It  was  the  roaring  sea,  OaXaao-a  y]x^i.crcra^  — 

a.ix(p\  Se  t'  &Kpai 
'H'iSvei  fio6wffiv,  (pfxj-yOfxevtis  a.\hs  t|a>. 

And  the  summits  of  the  bank 
Around  resound,  the  sea  being  vomited  forth. 

As  we  stood  looking  on  this  scene  we  were 
gradually  convinced  that  fishing  here  and  in  a 
pond  were  not,  in  all  respects,  the  same,  and 
that  he  who  waits  for  fair  weather  and  a  calm 
sea  may  never  see  the  glancing  skin  of  a  mack- 
erel, and  get  no  nearer  to  a  cod  than  the  wooden 
emblem  in  the  State  House. 

Having  lingered  on  the  shore  till  we  were 
well-nigh  chilled  to  death  by  the  wind,  and  were 
ready  to  take  shelter  in  a  Charity-house,  we 
turned  our  weather  -  beaten  faces  toward  Pro- 
vincetown  and  the  Bay  again,  having  now  more 
than  doubled  the  Cape. 


PROVINCETOWN 

Earlt  the  next  morning  I  walked  into  a  fish- 
house  near  our  hotel,  where  three  or  four  men 
were  engaged  in  trundling  out  the  pickled  fish 
on  barrows,  and  spreading  them  to  dry.  They 
told  me  that  a  vessel  had  lately  come  in  from 
the  Banks  with  forty-four  thousand  cod-fish. 
Timothy  Dwight  says  that,  just  before  he  ar- 
rived at  Provincetown,  "a  schooner  came  in 
from  the  Great  Bank  with  fifty-six  thousand 
fish,  almost  one  thousand  five  hundred  quintals, 
taken  in  a  single  voyage;  the  main  deck  being, 
on  her  return,  eight  inches  under  water  in  calm 
weather."  The  cod  in  this  fish-house,  just  out 
of  the  pickle,  lay  packed  several  feet  deep,  and 
three  or  four  men  stood  on  them  in  cowhide 
boots,  pitching  them  on  to  the  barrows  with  an 
instrument  which  had  a  single  iron  point.  One 
young  man,  who  chewed  tobacco,  spat  on  the 
fish  repeatedly.  Well,  sir,  thought  I,  when 
that  older  man  sees  you  he  will  speak  to  you. 
But  presently  I  saw  the  older  man  do  the  same 
thing.     It  reminded  me  of  the  figs  of  Smyrna. 


256  CAPE   COD 

"How  long  does  it  take  to  cure  these  fish?"  I 
asked. 

"Two  good  drying  days,  sir,"  was  the  an- 
swer. 

I  walked  across  the  street  again  into  the  hotel 
to  breakfast,  and  mine  host  inquired  if  I  would 
take  "hashed  fish  or  beans."  I  took  beans, 
though  they  never  were  a  favorite  dish  of  mine. 
I  found  next  summer  that  this  was  still  the  only 
alternative  proposed  here,  and  the  landlord  was 
still  ringing  the  changes  on  these  two  words. 
In  the  former  dish  there  was  a  remarkable  pro- 
portion of  fish.  As  you  travel  inland  the  potato 
predominates.  It  chanced  that  I  did  not  taste 
fresh  fish  of  any  kind  on  the  Cape,  and  I  was 
assured  that  they  were  not  so  much  used  there 
as  in  the  country.  That  is  where  they  are 
cured,  and  where,  sometimes,  travelers  are 
cured  of  eating  them.  No  fresh  meat  was 
slaughtered  in  Provincetown,  but  the  little  that 
was  used  at  the  public  houses  was  brought  from 
Boston  by  the  steamer. 

A  great  many  of  the  houses  here  were  sur- 
rounded by  fish-flakes  close  up  to  the  sills  on  all 
sides,  with  only  a  narrow  passage  two  or  three 
feet  wide,  to  the  front  door;  so  that  instead  of 
looking  out  into  a  flower  or  grass  plot,  you 
looked  on  to  so  many  square  rods  of  cod  turned 
wrong  side  outwards.    These  parterres  were  said 


PROVINCETOWN  257 

to  be  least  like  a  flower-garden  in  a  good  dry- 
ing day  in  midsummer.  There  were  flakes  of 
every  age  and  pattern,  and  some  so  rusty  and 
overgrown  with  lichens  that  they  looked  as  if 
they  might  have  served  the  founders  of  the  fish- 
ery here.  Some  had  broken  down  under  the 
weight  of  successive  harvests.  The  principal 
employment  of  the  inhabitants  at  this  time 
seemed  to  be  to  trundle  out  their  fish  and  spread 
them  in  the  morning,  and  bring  them  in  at 
night.  I  saw  how  many  a  loafer  who  chanced 
to  be  out  early  enough,  got  a  job  at  wheeling 
out  the  fish  of  his  neighbor  who  was  anxious  to 
improve  the  whole  of  a  fair  day.  Now  then  I 
knew  where  salt  fish  were  caught.  They  were 
everywhere  lying  on  their  backs,  their  collar- 
bones standing  out  like  the  lapels  of  a  man-o'- 
war-man's  jacket,  and  inviting  all  things  to 
come  and  rest  in  their  bosoms ;  and  all  things, 
with  a  few  exceptions,  accepted  the  invitation. 
I  think,  by  the  way,  that  if  you  should  wrap  a 
large  salt  fish  round  a  small  boy,  he  would  have 
a  coat  of  such  a  fashion  as  I  have  seen  many  a 
one  wear  to  muster.  Salt  fish  were  stacked  up 
on  the  wharves,  looking  like  corded  wood,  maple 
and  yellow  birch  with  the  bark  left  on.  I  mis- 
took them  for  this  at  first,  and  such  in  one  sense 
they  were,  —  fuel  to  maintain  our  vital  fires,  — 
an   eastern   wood   which   grew   on   the    Grand 


258  CAPE   COD 

Banks.  Some  were  stacked  in  the  form  of  huge 
flower-pots,  being  laid  in  small  circles  with  the 
tails  outwards,  each  circle  successively  larger 
than  the  preceding  until  the  pile  was  three  or 
four  feet  high,  when  the  circles  rajiidly  dimin- 
ished, so  as  to  form  a  conical  roof.  On  the 
shores  of  New  Brunswick  this  is  covered  with 
birch-bark,  and  stones  are  placed  upon  it,  and, 
being  thus  rendered  impervious  to  the  rain,  it  is 
left  to  season  before  being  packed  for  exporta- 
tion. 

It  is  rumored  that  in  the  fall  the  cows  here 
are  sometimes  fed  on  cod's  heads!  The  godlike 
part  of  the  cod,  which,  like  the  human  head,  is 
curiously  and  wonderfully  made,  forsooth  has 
but  little  less  brain  in  it,  —  coming  to  such  an 
end !  to  be  craunched  by  cows !  I  felt  my  own 
skull  crack  from  sympathy.  What  if  the  heads 
of  men  were  to  be  cut  off  to  feed  the  cows  of  a 
superior  order  of  beings  who  inhabit  the  islands 
in  the  ether?  Away  goes  your  fine  brain,  the 
house  of  thought  and  instinct,  to  swell  the  cud 
of  a  ruminant  animal !  —  However,  an  inhabi- 
tant assured  me  that  they  did  not  make  a  prac- 
tice of  feeding  cows  on  cod's  heads;  the  cows 
merely  would  eat  them  sometimes,  but  I  might 
live  there  all  my  days  and  never  see  it  done. 
A  cow  wanting  salt  would  also  sometimes  lick 
out   all  the   soft  part  of  a   cod  on  the   flakes. 


PROVINCETOWN  259 

This  he  would  have  me  believe  was  the  founda- 
tion of  this  fish-story. 

It  has  been  a  constant  traveler's  tale  and  per- 
haps slander,  now  for  thousands  of  years,  the 
Latins  and  Greeks  have  repeated  it,  that  this  or 
that  nation  feeds  its  cattle,  or  horses,  or  sheep, 
on  fish,  as  may  be  seen  in  CElian  and  Pliny,  but 
in  the  Journal  of  Nearchus,  who  was  Alexan- 
der's admiral,  and  made  a  voyage  from  the 
Indus  to  the  Euphrates  three  hundred  and 
twenty-six  years  before  Christ,  it  is  said  that  the 
inhabitants  of  a  portion  of  the  intermediate 
coast,  whom  he  called  Ichthyophagi  or  Fish- 
eaters,  not  only  ate  fishes  raw  and  also  dried 
and  pounded  in  a  whale's  vertebra  for  a  mortar 
and  made  into  a  paste,  but  gave  them  to  their 
cattle,  there  being  no  grass  on  the  coast;  and 
several  modern  travelers,  —  Braybosa,  Niebidir, 
and  others  make  the  same  report.  Therefore  in 
balancing  the  evidence  I  am  still  in  doubt  about 
the  Provincetown  cows.  As  for  other  domestic 
animals.  Captain  King,  in  his  continuation  of 
Captain  Cook's  Journal  in  1779,  says  of  the 
dogs  of  Kamtschatka,  "  Their  food  in  the  winter 
consists  entirely  of  the  head,  entrails,  and  back- 
bones of  salmon,  which  are  put  aside  and  dried 
for  that  purpose ;  and  with  this  diet  they  are  fed 
but  sparingly."^ 

^  Cook's  Journal,  vol.  vii.  p.  315. 


260  CAPE   COD 

As  we  are  treating  of  fishy  matters,  let  me 
insert  what  Pliny  says,  —  that  "  the  command- 
ers of  the  fleets  of  Alexander  the  Great  have 
related  that  the  Gedrosi,  who  dwell  on  the 
banks  of  the  river  Arabis,  are  in  the  habit  of 
making  the  doors  of  their  houses  with  the  jaw- 
bones of  fishes,  and  raftering  the  roofs  with 
their  bones."  Strabo  tells  the  same  of  the 
Ichthyophagi.  "Hardouin  remarks,  that  the 
Basques  of  his  day  were  in  the  habit  of  fencing 
their  gardens  with  the  ribs  of  the  whale,  which 
sometimes  exceeded  twenty  feet  in  length ;  and 
Cuvier  says,  that  at  the  present  time  the  jaw- 
bone of  the  whale  is  used  in  Norway  for  the 
purpose  of  making  beams  or  posts  for  build- 
ings." ^  Herodotus  says  the  inhabitants  on  Lake 
Prasias  in  Thrace  (living  on  piles),  "give  fish 
for  fodder  to  their  horses  and  beasts  of  burden." 

Provincetown  was  apparently  what  is  called  a 
flourishing  town.  Some  of  the  inhabitants  asked 
me  if  I  did  not  think  that  they  appeared  to  be 
well  off  generally.  I  said  that  I  did,  and  asked 
how  many  there  were  in  the  almshouse.  "Oh, 
only  one  or  two,  infirm  or  idiotic,"  answered 
they.  The  outward  aspect  of  the  houses  and 
shops  frequently  suggested  a  poverty  which 
their  interior  comfort  and  even  richness  dis- 
proved.    You    might    meet    a    lady    daintily 

^  Bohn's  ed.  trans,  of  Pliny,  vol.  ii.  p.  361. 


PROVINCETOWN  261 

dressed  in  the  Sabbath  morning,  wading  in 
among  the  sand-hills,  from  church,  where  there 
apj)eared  no  house  fit  to  receive  her,  yet  no 
doubt  the  interior  of  the  house  answered  to  the 
exterior  of  the  lady.  As  for  the  interior  of  the 
inhabitants  I  am  still  in  the  dark  about  it.  I 
had  a  little  intercourse  with  some  whom  I  met 
in  the  street,  and  was  often  agreeably  disap- 
pointed by  discovering  the  intelligence  of  rough, 
and  what  would  be  considered  unpromising, 
specimens.  Nay,  I  ventured  to  call  on  one  citi- 
zen the  next  summer,  by  special  invitation.  I 
foimd  him  sitting  in  his  front  doorway,  that 
Sabbath  evening,  prepared  for  me  to  come  in 
unto  him ;  but  unfortunately  for  his  reputation 
for  keeping  open  house,  there  was  stretched 
across  his  gateway  a  circular  cobweb  of  the 
largest  kind  and  quite  entire.  This  looked  so 
ominous  that  I  actually  turned  aside  and  went 
in  the  back  way. 

This  Monday  morning  was  beautifully  mild 
and  calm,  both  on  land  and  water,  promising  us 
a  smooth  passage  across  the  Bay,  and  the  fisher- 
men feared  that  it  would  not  be  so  good  a  dry- 
ing day  as  the  cold  and  windy  one  which  pre- 
ceded it.  There  could  hardly  have  been  a 
greater  contrast.  This  was  the  first  of  the  In- 
dian Summer  days,  though  at  a  late  hour  in  the 
morning  we  found  the  wells  in  the  sand  behind 


262  CAPE   COD 

the  town  still  covered  with  ice,  which  had 
formed  in  the  night.  What  with  wind  and  sun 
my  most  prominent  feature  fairly  cast  its  slough. 
But  I  assure  you  it  will  take  more  than  two 
good  drying  days  to  cure  me  of  rambling.  Af- 
ter making  an  excursion  among  the  hills  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  Shank-Painter  Swamp, 
and  getting  a  little  work  done  in  its  line,  we 
took  our  seat  upon  the  highest  sand-hill  over- 
looking the  town,  in  mid-air,  on  a  long  plank 
stretched  across  between  two  hillocks  of  sand, 
where  some  boys  were  endeavoring  in  vain  to 
fly  their  kite ;  and  there  we  remained  the  rest 
of  that  forenoon  looking  out  over  the  placid 
harbor,  and  watching  for  the  first  appearance 
of  the  steamer  from  Wellfleet,  that  we  might  be 
in  readiness  to  go  on  board  when  we  heard  the 
whistle  off  Long  Point. 

We  got  what  w^e  could  out  of  the  boys  in  the 
mean  while.  Provincetown  boys  are  of  course 
all  sailors  and  have  sailors'  eyes.  When  we 
were  at  the  Highland  Light  the  last  summer, 
seven  or  eight  miles  from  Provincetown  Har- 
bor, and  wished  to  know  one  Sunday  morning 
if  the  Olata,  a  well-known  yacht,  had  got  in 
from  Boston,  so  that  we  could  return  in  her,  a 
Provincetown  boy  about  ten  years  old,  who 
chanced  to  be  at  the  table,  remarked  that  she 
had.     I  asked  him  how  he  knew.     "I  just  saw 


PROVINCETOWN  263 

her  come  in,"  said  he.  When  I  expressed  sur- 
prise that  he  could  distinguish  her  from  other 
vessels  so  far,  he  said  that  there  were  not  so 
many  of  those  two-toi3sail  schooners  about  but 
that  he  could  tell  her.  Palfrey  said,  in  his  ora- 
tion at  Barnstable,  the  duck  does  not  take  to 
the  water  with  a  surer  instinct  than  the  Barn- 
stable boy.  [He  might  have  said  the  Cape  Cod 
boy  as  well.]  He  leaps  from  his  leading-strings 
into  the  shrouds,  it  is  but  a  bound  from  the 
mother's  lap  to  the  masthead.  He  boxes  the 
compass  in  his  infant  soliloquies.  He  can  hand, 
reef,  and  steer  by  the  time  he  flies  a  kite. 

This  was  the  very  day  one  would  have  chosen 
to  sit  upon  a  hill  overlooking  sea  and  land,  and 
muse  there.  The  mackerel  fleet  was  rapidly 
taking"  its  departure,  one  schooner  after  another, 
and  standing  round  the  Cape,  like  fowls  leav- 
ing their  roosts  in  the  morning  to  disperse  them- 
selves in  distant  fields.  The  turtle-like  sheds 
of  the  salt-works  were  crowded  into  every  nook 
in  the  hills,  immediately  behind  the  town,  and 
their  now  idle  wind-mills  lined  the  shore.  It 
was  worth  the  while  to  see  by  what  coarse  and 
simple  chemistry  this  almost  necessary  of  life  is 
obtained,  with  the  sun  for  journeyman,  and  a 
single  apprentice  to  do  the  chores  for  a  large 
establishment.  It  is  a  sort  of  tropical  labor, 
pursued  too  in  the  sunniest  season ;  more  inter- 


264  CAPE   COD 

esting  than  gold  or  diamond-washing,  which,  I 
fancy,  it  somewhat  resembles  at  a  distance.  In 
the  production  of  the  necessaries  of  life  Nature 
is  ready  enough  to  assist  man.  So  at  the  pot- 
ash works  which  I  have  seen  at  Hull,  where 
they  burn  the  stems  of  the  kelp  and  boil  the 
ashes.  Verily,  chemistry  is  not  a  splitting  of 
hairs  when  you  have  got  half  a  dozen  raw  Irish- 
men in  the  laboratory.  It  is  said,  that  owing 
to  the  reflection  of  the  sun  from  the  sand-hills, 
and  there  being  absolutely  no  fresh  water  emp- 
tying into  the  harbor,  the  same  number  of  su- 
perficial feet  yields  more  salt  here  than  in  any 
other  part  of  the  country.  A  little  rain  is  con- 
sidered necessary  to  clear  the  air,  and  make 
salt  fast  and  good,  for  as  paint  does  not  dry,  so 
water  does  not  evaporate,  in  dog-day  weather. 
But  they  were  now,  as  elsewhere  on  the  Cape, 
breaking  up  their  salt-works  and  selling  them 
for  lumber. 

From  that  elevation  we  coiald  overlook  the 
operations  of  the  inhabitants  almost  as  com- 
pletely as  if  the  roofs  had  been  taken  off. 
They  were  busily  covering  the  wicker-worked 
flakes  about  their  houses  with  salted  fish,  and 
we  now  saw  that  the  back  yards  were  improved 
for  this  purpose  as  much  as  the  front;  where 
one  man's  fish  ended  another's  began.  In  al- 
most every  yard  we  detected  some  little  build- 


PROVINCETOWN  265 

ing  from  which  these  treasures  were  being  trun- 
dled forth  and  systematically  spread,  and  we 
saw  that  there  was  an  art  as  well  as  a  knack 
even  in  spreading  fish,  and  that  a  division  of 
labor  was  profitably  practiced.  One  man  was 
withdrawing  his  fishes  a  few  inches  beyond  the 
nose  of  his  neighbor's  cow  which  had  stretched 
her  neck  over  a  paling  to  get  at  them.  It 
seemed  a  quite  domestic  employment,  like  dry- 
ing clothes,  and  indeed  in  some  parts  of  the 
county  the  women  take  part  in  it. 

I  noticed  in  several  places  on  the  Cape  a  sort 
of  clothes^a^'es.  They  spread  brush  on  the 
ground,  and  fence  it  round,  and  then  lay  their 
clothes  on  it,  to  keep  them  from  the  sand.  This 
is  a  Cape  Cod  clothes-yard. 

The  sand  is  the  great  enemy  here.  The  tops 
of  some  of  the  hills  were  inclosed  and  a  board 
put  up  forbidding  all  persons  entering  the  in- 
closure,  lest  their  feet  should  disturb  the  sand, 
and  set  it  a-blowing  or  a-sliding.  The  inhabi- 
tants are  obliged  to  get  leave  from  the  authori- 
ties to  cut  wood  behind  the  town  for  fish-flakes, 
bean-poles,  pea-brush,  and  the  like,  though,  as 
we  were  told,  they  may  transplant  trees  from 
one  part  of  the  township  to  another  without 
leave.  The  sand  drifts  like  snow,  and  some- 
times the  lower  story  of  a  house  is  concealed  by 
it,  though  it  is  kept  off  by  a  wall.     The  houses 


2G6  CAPE   COD 

were  formerly  built  on  piles,  in  order  that  the 
driving  sand  might  pass  under  them.  We  saw 
a  few  old  ones  here  still  standing  on  their  piles, 
but  they  were  boarded  up  now,  being  protected 
by  their  younger  neighbors.  There  was  a  school- 
house,  just  under  the  hill  on  which  we  sat,  filled 
with  sand  u])  to  the  tops  of  the  desks,  and  of 
course  the  master  and  scholars  had  fled.  Per- 
haps they  had  imprudently  left  the  windows 
open  one  day,  or  neglected  to  mend  a  broken 
pane.  Yet  in  one  place  was  advertised  "Fine 
sand  for  sale  here,"  —  I  could  hardly  believe 
my  eyes,  —  probably  some  of  the  street  sifted, 
—  a  good  instance  of  the  fact  that  a  man  confers 
a  value  on  the  most  worthless  thing  by  mixing 
himself  with  it,  according  to  which  rule  we 
must  have  conferred  a  value  on  the  whole  back- 
side of  Cape  Cod ;  —  but  I  thought  that  if  they 
could  have  advertised  "Fat  Soil,"  or  perhaps 
"Fine  sand  got  rid  of,"  ay,  and  "Shoes  emptied 
here,"  it  would  have  been  more  alluring.  As  we 
looked  down  on  the  town,  I  thought  that  I  saw 
one  man,  who  probably  lived  beyond  the  ex- 
tremity of  the  planking,  steering  and  tacking 
for  it  in  a  sort  of  snow-shoes,  but  I  may  have 
been  mistaken.  In  some  j^ictures  of  Province - 
town  the  persons  of  the  inhabitants  are  not 
drawn  below  the  ankles,  so  much  being  suj^ijosed 
to  be  buried  in  the  sand.    Nevertheless,  natives 


PROVINCETOWN  267 

of  Provlncetown  assured  me  that  they  could 
walk  in  the  middle  of  the  road  without  trouble 
even  in  slippers,  for  they  had  learned  how  to 
put  their  feet  down  and  lift  them  up  without 
taking  in  any  sand.  One  man  said  that  he 
should  be  surprised  if  he  found  half  a  dozen 
grains  of  sand  in  his  pumps  at  night,  and 
stated,  moreover,  that  the  young  ladies  had  a 
dexterous  way  of  emptying  their  shoes  at  each 
step,  which  it  would  take  a  stranger  a  long  time 
to  learn.  The  tires  of  the  stage-wheels  were 
about  five  inches  wide ;  and  the  wagon-tires  gen- 
erally on  the  Cape  are  an  inch  or  two  wider,  as 
the  sand  is  an  inch  or  two  deeper  than  else- 
where. I  saw  a  baby's  wagon  with  tires  six 
inches  wide  to  keep  it  near  the  surface.  The 
more  tired  the  wheels,  the  less  tired  the  horses. 
Yet  all  the  time  that  we  were  in  Provincetown, 
which  was  two  days  and  nights,  we  saw  only  one 
horse  and  cart,  and  they  were  conveying  a  coffin. 
They  did  not  try  such  experiments  there  on 
common  occasions.  The  next  summer  I  saw 
only  the  two- wheeled  horse -cart  which  conveyed 
me  thirty  rods  into  the  harbor  on  my  way  to  the 
steamer.  Yet  we  read  that  there  were  two 
horses  and  two  3^oke  of  oxen  here  in  1791,  and 
we  were  told  that  there  were  several  more  when 
we  were  there,  beside  the  stage  team.  In  Bar- 
ber's  Historical    Collections,    it    is    said,    "so 


268  CAPE   COD 

rarely  are  wheel-carriages  seen  in  the  place  that 
they  are  a  matter  of  some  curiosity  to  the 
younger  part  of  the  community.  A  lad  who 
understood  navigating  the  ocean  much  better 
than  land  travel,  on  seeing  a  man  driving  a 
wagon  in  the  street,  expressed  his  surj)rise  at 
his  being  able  to  drive  so  straight  without  the 
assistance  of  a  rudder."  There  was  no  rattle  of 
carts,  and  there  would  have  been  no  rattle  if 
there  had  been  any  carts.  Some  saddle  horses 
that  passed  the  hotel  in  the  evening  merely 
made  the  sand  fly  with  a  rustling  sound  like  a 
writer  sanding  his  paper  copiously,  but  there 
was  no  sound  of  their  tread.  No  doubt  there 
are  more  horses  and  carts  there  at  present.  A 
sleigh  is  never  seen,  or  at  least  is  a  great  novelty 
on  the  Cape,  the  snow  being  either  absorbed  by 
the  sand  or  blown  into  drifts. 

Nevertheless,  the  inhabitants  of  the  Cape 
generally  do  not  complain  of  their  "soil,"  but 
will  tell  you  that  it  is  good  enough  for  them  to 
dry  their  fish  on. 

Notwithstanding  all  this  sand,  we  coimted 
three  meeting-houses,  and  four  school-houses 
nearly  as  large,  on  this  street,  though  some  had 
a  tight  board  fence  about  them  to  preserve  the 
plot  within  level  and  hard.  Similar  fences, 
even  within  a  foot  of  many  of  the  hoitses,  gave 
the  town  a  less  cheerful  and  hospitable  apj^ear- 


PROVINCETOWN  269 

ance  than  it  would  otherwise  have  had.  They 
told  us  that,  on  the  whole,  the  sand  had  made 
no  progress  for  the  last  ten  years,  the  cows  be- 
ing no  longer  permitted  to  go  at  large,  and  every 
means  being  taken  to  stop  the  sandy  tide. 

In  1727  Provincetown  was  "invested  with 
peculiar  privileges,"  for  its  encouragement. 
Once  or  twice  it  was  nearly  abandoned;  but 
now  lots  on  the  street  fetch  a  high  price,  though 
titles  to  them  were  first  obtained  by  possession 
und  improvement,  and  they  are  still  transferred 
by  quit-claim  deeds  merely,  the  township  being 
the  property  of  the  State.  But  though  lots 
were  so  valuable  on  the  street,  you  might  in 
many  places  throw  a  stone  over  them  to  where  a 
man  could  still  obtain  land  or  sand  by  squatting 
on  or  improving  it. 

Stones  are  very  rare  on  the  Cape.  I  saw  a 
very  few  small  stones  used  for  pavements  and 
for  bank  walls,  in  one  or  two  places  in  my  walk, 
but  they  are  so  scarce,  that,  as  I  was  informed, 
vessels  have  been  forbidden  to  take  them  from 
the  beach  for  ballast,  and  therefore  their  crews 
used  to  land  at  night  and  steal  them.  I  did  not 
hear  of  a  rod  of  regular  stone  wall  below  Or- 
leans. Yet  I  saw  one  man  underpinning  a  new 
house  in  Eastham  with  some  "rocks,"  as  he 
called  them,  which  he  said  a  neighbor  had  col- 
lected with  great  pains  in  the  course  of  years. 


270  CAPE   COD 

and  finally  made  over  to  him.  This  I  thought 
was  a  gift  worthy  of  being  recorded,  —  equal  to 
a  transfer  of  California  "rocks,"  almost.  An- 
other man  who  was  assisting  him,  and  who 
seemed  to  be  a  close  observer  of  nature,  hinted 
to  me  the  locality  of  a  rock  in  that  neighbor- 
hood which  was  "forty -two  paces  in  circumfer- 
ence and  fifteen  feet  high,"  for  he  saw  that  I 
was  a  stranger,  and,  probably,  would  not  carry 
it  off.  Yet  I  suspect  that  the  locality  of  the  few 
large  rocks  on  the  forearm  of  the  Cape  is  well 
known  to  the  inhabitants  generally.  I  even  met 
with  one  man  who  had  got  a  smattering  of  min- 
eralogy, but  where  he  j^ieked  it  up  I  couxd  not 
guess.  I  thought  that  he  would  meet  with  some 
interesting  geological  nuts  for  him  to  crack,  if 
he  should  ever  visit  the  mainland,  —  Cohasset 
or  Marblehead,  for  instance. 

The  well  stones  at  the  Highland  Light  were 
brought  from  Hingham,  but  the  wells  and  cel- 
lars of  the  Cape  are  generally  built  of  brick, 
which  also  are  imported.  The  cellars,  as  well 
as  the  wells,  are  made  in  a  circular  form,  to 
prevent  the  sand  from  pressing  in  the  wall. 
The  former  are  only  from  nine  to  twelve  feet  in 
diameter,  and  are  said  to  be  very  cheap,  since  a 
single  tier  of  brick  will  suffice  for  a  cellar  of 
even  larger  dimensions.  Of  course,  if  you  live 
in  the  sand,  you  will  not  require  a  large  cellar 


PROVINCETOWN  271 

to  hold  your  roots.  In  Provincetown,  when 
formerly  they  suffered  the  sand  to  drive  under 
their  houses,  obliterating  all  rudiment  of  a 
cellar,  they  did  not  raise  a  vegetable  to  put  into 
one.  One  farmer  in  Wellfleet,  who  raised  fifty 
bushels  of  potatoes,  showed  me  his  cellar  under 
a  corner  of  his  house,  not  more  than  nine  feet 
in  diameter,  looking  like  a  cistern :  but  he  had 
another  of  the  same  size  under  his  barn. 

You  need  dig  only  a  few  feet  almost  any- 
where near  the  shore  of  the  Cape  to  find  fresh 
water.  But  that  which  we  tasted  was  invariably 
poor,  though  the  inhabitants  called  it  good,  as  if 
they  were  comparing  it  with  salt  water.  In 
the  account  of  Truro,  it  is  said,  "Wells  dug  near 
the  shore  are  dry  at  low  water,  or  rather  at 
what  is  called  young  flood,  but  are  replenished 
with  the  flowing  of  the  tide,"  —  the  salt  water, 
which  is  lowest  in  the  sand,  apparently  forcing 
the  fresh  up.  When  you  express  your  surprise 
at  the  greenness  of  a  Provincetown  garden  on 
the  beach,  in  a  dry  season,  they  will  sometimes 
tell  you  that  the  tide  forces  the  moisture  up  to 
them.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  low  sand- 
bars in  the  midst  of  the  ocean,  perhaps  even 
those  which  are  laid  bare  only  at  low  tide,  are 
reservoirs  of  fresh  water,  at  which  the  thirsty 
mariner  can  supply  himself.  They  appear,  like 
huge  sponges,  to  hold  the  rain  and  dew  which 


272  CAPE   COD 

fall  on  them,  and  which,  by  capillary  attraction, 
are  prevented  from  mingling  with  the  surronnd- 
ing  brine. 

The  Harbor  of  Provincetown  —  which,  as 
well  as  the  greater  part  of  the  Bay,  and  a  wide 
exj3ause  of  ocean,  we  overlooked  from  our  perch 
—  is  deservedly  famous.  It  opens  to  the  south, 
is  free  from  rocks,  and  is  never  frozen  over.  It 
is  said  that  the  only  ice  seen  in  it  drifts  in 
sometimes  from  Barnstable  or  Plymouth. 
Dwight  remarks  that  "the  storms  which  prevail 
on  the  American  coast  generally  come  from  the 
east ;  and  there  is  no  other  harbor  on  a  windward 
shore  within  two  hundred  miles."  J.  D.  Gra- 
ham, who  has  made  a  very  minute  and  thorough 
survey  of  this  harbor  and  the  adjacent  waters, 
states  that  "its  capacity,  depth  of  water,  excel- 
lent anchorage,  and  the  complete  shelter  it 
affords  from  all  winds,  combine  to  render  it  one 
of  the  most  valuable  ship  harbors  on  our  coast." 
It  is  the  harbor  of  the  Cape  and  of  the  fisher- 
men of  Massachusetts  generally.  It  was  known 
to  navigators  several  years  at  least  before  the 
settlement  of  Plymouth.  In  Captain  John 
Smith's  map  of  New  England,  dated  1614,  it 
bears  the  name  of  Milford  Haven,  and  Massa- 
chusetts Bay  that  of  Stuard's  Bay.  His  High- 
ness Prince  Charles  changed  the  name  of  Cape 
Cod  to  Cape  James ;  but  even  princes  have  not 


PROVINCETOWN  273 

always  power  to  change  a  name  for  the  worse, 
and,  as  Cotton  Mather  said,  Cape  Cod  is  "a 
name  which  I  suppose  it  will  never  lose  till 
shoals  of  codfish  be  seen  swimming  on  its  high- 
est hills." 

Many  an  early  voyager  was  unexpectedly 
caught  by  this  hook,  and  found  himself  em- 
bayed. On  successive  maps,  Cape  Cod  appears 
sprinkled  over  with  French,  Dutch,  and  English 
names,  as  it  made  part  of  New  France,  New 
Holland,  and  New  England.  On  one  map 
Provincetown  Harbor  is  called  "  Fuic  (bownet  ?) 
Bay,"  Barnstable  Bay  "Staten  Bay,"  and  the 
sea  north  of  it  "Mare  del  Noort,"  or  the  North 
Sea.  On  another,  the  extremity  of  the  Cape  is 
called  "Staten  Hoeck,"  or  the  States  Hook. 
On  another,  by  Young,  this  has  Noord  Zee, 
Staten  hoeck,  or  Hit  hoeck,  but  the  copy  at 
Cambridge  has  no  date ;  the  whole  Cape  is  called 
"Niew  Hollant"  (after  Hudson);  and  on  an- 
other still,  the  shore  between  Race  Point  and 
Wood  End  appears  to  be  called  "Bevechier." 
In  Champlain's  admirable  Map  of  New  France, 
including  the  oldest  recognizable  map  of  what  is 
now  the  New  England  coast  with  which  I  am 
acquainted,  Cape  Cod  is  called  C.  Blan  (i.  e.. 
Cape  White),  from  the  color  of  its  sands,  and 
Massachusetts  Bay  is  Baye  Blanche.  It  was 
visited  by  De  Monts  and  Champlain  in  1605, 


274  CAPE   COD 

and  the  next  year  was  further  explored  by  Poi- 
triiu'ourt  and  Champlain.  The  hitter  has  given 
a  particular  account  of  these  explorations  in  his 
"Voyages,"  together  with  separate  charts  and 
soundings  of  two  of  its  harbors,  —  Halle 
Barre,  the  Bad  Bar  (Nauset  Harbor?),  a  name 
now  applied  to  what  the  French  called  Cap 
Baturler, — and  Port  Fortune,  apparently 
Chatham  Harbor.  Both  these  names  are  copied 
on  the  map  of  "Novi  Belgii,"  in  Ogilby's 
America.  He  also  describes  minutely  the  man- 
ners and  customs  of  the  savages,  and  represents 
by  a  plate  the  savages  surprising  the  French 
and  killing  five  or  six  of  them.  The  French 
afterward  killed  some  of  the  natives,  and 
wished,  by  way  of  revenge,  to  carry  off  some 
and  make  them  grind  in  their  hand-mill  at  Port 
Poyal. 

It  is  remarkable  that  there  is  not  in  English 
any  adequate  or  correct  account  of  the  French 
exploration  of  what  is  now  the  coast  of  New 
England,  between  1604  and  1608,  though  it  is 
conceded  that  they  then  made  the  first  perma- 
nent Euroj)ean  settlement  on  the  continent  of 
North  America  north  of  St.  Augustine.  If  the 
lions  had  been  the  painters  it  would  have  been 
otherwise.  This  omission  is  probably  to  be  ac- 
counted for  partly  by  the  fact  that  the  early 
edition  of  Champlain's  "Voyages  "  had  not  been 


PR  0  VINCE  TOWN  275 

consulted  for  this  purpose.  This  contains  by 
far  the  most  particular,  and,  I  think,  the  most 
interesting  chapter  of  what  we  may  call  the 
Ante -Pilgrim  history  of  New  England,  extend- 
ing to  one  hundred  and  sixty  pages  quarto ;  but 
appears  to  be  unknown  equally  to  the  historian 
and  the  orator  on  Plymouth  Rock.  Bancroft 
does  not  mention  Champlain  at  all  among  the 
authorities  for  De  Monts'  expedition,  nor  does 
he  say  that  he  ever  visited  the  coast  of  New 
England.  Though  he  bore  the  title  of  pilot  to 
De  Monts,  he  was,  in  another  sense,  the  lead- 
ing spirit,  as  well  as  the  historian  of  the  expe- 
dition. Holmes,  Hildreth,  and  Barry,  and 
apparently  all  our  historians  who  mention  Cham- 
plain,  refer  to  the  edition  of  1632,  in  which  all 
the  separate  charts  of  our  harbors,  etc.,  and 
about  one  half  the  narrative,  are  omitted;  for 
the  author  explored  so  many  lands  afterward 
that  he  could  afford  to  forget  a  part  of  what  he 
had  done.  Hildreth,  speaking  of  De  Monts' 
expedition,  says  that  "  he  looked  into  the  Penob- 
scot [in  1605],  which  Pring  had  discovered  two 
years  before,"  saying  nothing  about  Cham- 
plain's  extensive  exploration  of  it  for  De  Monts 
in  1604  (Holmes  says  1608,  and  refers  to  Pur- 
chas);  also  that  he  followed  in  the  track  of 
Pring  along  the  coast  "to  Cape  Cod,  which  he 
called  Malabarre."     (Haliburton  had  made  the 


276  CAPE   COD 

same  statement  before  him  in  1829.  He  called 
it  Cap  Blanc,  and  Malle  Barre  —  the  Bad  Bar  — 
was  the  name  given  to  a  harbor  on  the  east  side 
of  the  Cape.)  Pring  says  nothing  about  a  river 
there.  Belknap  says  that  Weymouth  discov- 
ered it  in  1605.  Sir  F.  Gorges  says,  in  his 
narration,^  1658,  that  Pring  in  1606  "made  a 
perfect  discovery  of  all  the  rivers  and  harbors." 
This  is  the  most  I  can  find.  Bancroft  makes 
Champlain  to  have  discovered  more  western  riv- 
ers in  Maine,  not  naming  the  Penobscot;  he, 
however,  must  have  been  the  discoverer  of  dis- 
tances on  this  river. ^  Pring  was  absent  from 
England  only  about  six  months,  and  sailed  by 
this  part  of  Cape  Cod  (Malebarre)  because  it 
yielded  no  sassafras,  while  the  French,  who 
probably  had  not  heard  of  Pring,  were  patiently 
for  years  exploring  the  coast  in  search  of  a  place 
of  settlement,  sounding  and  surveying  its  har- 
bors. 

John  Smith's  map,  published  in  1616,  from 
observations  in  1614-15,  is  by  many  regarded 
as  the  oldest  map  of  New  England.  It  is  the 
first  that  was  made  after  this  country  was  called 
New  England,  for  he  so  called  it;  but  in  Cham- 
plain's  "Voyages,"  edition  1613  (and  Lescarbot, 
in  1612,   quotes  a  still  earlier  account  of  his 

1  Maine  Hist.  Coll.,  vol.  ii.  p.  19. 
^  bee  Belknap,  p.  147. 


PROVINCETOWN  211 

voyage),  there  is  a  map  of  it  made  when  it  was 
known  to  Christendom  as  New  France,  called 
Carte  Geographique  de  la  Nouvelle  Franse 
f alette  "par  le  Sleur  de  Champlain  Saint 
Tongois  Capp'itaine  ordinaire  pour  le  roi  en  la 
Marine,  — faict  Ven  1612,  from  his  observa- 
tions between  1604  and  1607 ;  a  map  extending 
from  Labrador  to  Cape  Cod  and  westward  to 
the  Great  Lakes,  and  crowded  with  informa- 
tion, geographical,  ethnographical,  zoological, 
and  botanical.  He  even  gives  the  variation  of 
the  compass  as  observed  by  himself  at  that  date 
on  many  parts  of  the  coast.  This,  taken  to- 
gether with  the  many  separate  charts  of  harbors 
and  their  soundings  on  a  large  scale,  which  this 
volume  contains,  —  among  the  rest.  Qui  ni  he 
quy  (Kennebec),  Chouacoit  R.  (Saco  R.),  Le 
Beau  port,  Port  St.  Louis  (near  Cape  Ann), 
and  others  on  our  coast,  —  but  tohich  are  not  in 
the  edition  of  1632,  makes  this  a  completer  map 
of  the  New  England  and  adjacent  northern  coast 
than  was  made  for  half  a  century  afterward ;  al- 
most, we  might  be  allowed  to  say,  till  another 
Frenchman,  Des  Barres,  made  another  for  us, 
which  only  our  late  Coast  Survey  has  super- 
seded. Most  of  the  maps  of  this  coast  made  for 
a  long  time  after  betray  their  indebtedness  to 
Champlain.  He  was  a  skillful  navigator,  a 
man  of  science,  and  geographer  to  the  King  of 


278  CAPE   COD 

France.  He  crossed  the  Atlantic  about  twenty 
times,  and  made  nothing  of  it ;  often  in  a  small 
vessel  in  which  few  would  dare  to  go  to  sea  to- 
day; and  on  one  occasion  making  the  voyage 
from  Tadoussac  to  St.  Malo  in  eighteen  days. 
He  was  in  this  neighborhood,  that  is,  between 
Annapolis,  Nova  Scotia,  and  Cape  Cod,  observ- 
ing the  land  and  its  inhabitants,  and  making  a 
map  of  the  coast,  from  May,  1604,  to  Septem- 
ber, 1607,  or  ahout  three  and  a  half  years,  and 
he  has  described  minutely  his  method  of  survey- 
ing harbors.  By  his  own  account,  a  part  of  his 
map  was  engraved  in  1604  (?).  When  Pont- 
Grave  and  others  returned  to  France  in  1606, 
he  remained  at  Port  Royal  with  Poitrincourt, 
"in  order,"  says  he,  "by  the  aid  of  God,  to  fin- 
ish the  chart  of  the  coasts  which  I  had  begun ;  " 
and  again  in  his  volume,  printed  before  John 
Smith  visited  this  part  of  America,  he  says :  "  It 
seems  to  me  that  I  have  done  my  duty  as  far  as 
I  could,  if  I  have  not  forgotten  to  put  in  my 
said  chart  whatever  I  saw,  and  give  a  particular 
knowledge  to  the  public  of  what  had  never  been 
described  nor  discovered  so  particularly  as  I 
have  done  it,  although  some  other  may  have 
heretofore  written  of  it ;  but  it  was  a  very  small 
affair  in  comparison  with  what  we  have  discov- 
ered within  the  last  ten  years." 

It  is  not  generally  remembered,  if  known,  by 


PROVINCETOWN  279 

the  descendants  of  the  Pilgrims,  that  when  their 
forefathers  were  spending  their  first  memorable 
winter  in  the  New  World,  they  had  for  neigh- 
bors a  colony  of  French  no  further  off  than  Port 
Royal  (Annapolis,  Nova  Scotia),  three  hundred 
miles  distant  (Prince  seems  to  make  it  about 
five  hundred  miles);  where,  in  spite  of  many 
vicissitudes,  they  had  been  for  fifteen  years. 
They  built  a  grist-mill  there  as  early  as  1606 ; 
also  made  bricks  and  turpentine  on  a  stream, 
Williamson  says,  in  1606.  De  Monts,  who  was 
a  Protestant,  brought  his  minister  with  him, 
who  came  to  blows  with  the  Catholic  priest  on 
the  subject  of  religion.  Though  these  founders 
of  Acadie  endured  no  less  than  the  Pilgrims, 
and  about  the  same  proportion  of  them  — 
thirty-five  out  of  seventy -nine  (Williamson's 
Maine  says  thirty-six  out  of  seventy)  —  died  the 
first  winter  at  St.  Croix,  1604-5,  sixteen  years 
earlier,  no  orator,  to  my  knowledge,  has  ever 
celebrated  their  enterprise  (Williamson's  His- 
tory of  Maine  does  considerably),  while  the 
trials  which  their  successors  and  descendants 
endured  at  the  hands  of  the  English  have  fur- 
nished a  theme  for  both  the  historian  and  poet.^ 
The  remains  of  their  fort  at  St.  Croix  were  dis- 
covered at  the  end  of  the  last  century,  and 
helped  decide  where  the  true  St.  Croix,  our 
boundary,  was. 

^  See  Bancroft's  History  and  Longfellow's  Evangeline. 


280  CAPE  COD 

The  very  gravestones  of  those  Frenchmen  are 
probably  older  than  the  oldest  English  monu- 
ment in  New  England  north  of  the  Elizabeth 
Islands,  or  perhaps  anywhere  in  New  England, 
for  if  there  are  any  traces  of  Gosnold's  store- 
house left,  his  strong  works  are  gone.  Bancroft 
says,  advisedly,  in  1834,  "It  requires  a  believ- 
ing eye  to  discern  the  ruins  of  the  fort;"  and 
that  there  were  no  ruins  of  a  fort  in  1837.  Dr. 
Charles  T.  Jackson  tells  me  that,  in  the  course 
of  a  geological  survey  in  1827,  he  discovered  a 
gravestone,  a  slab  of  trap  rock,  on  Goat  Island, 
opposite  Annapolis  (Port  Royal),  in  Nova 
Scotia,  bearing  a  Masonic  coat-of-arms  and  the 
date  1606,  which  is  fourteen  years  earlier  than 
the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims.  This  was  left  in  the 
possession  of  Judge  Haliburton,  of  Nova  Scotia. 

There  were  Jesuit  priests  in  what  has  since 
been  called  New  England,  converting  the  sav- 
ages at  Mount  Desert,  then  St.  Savior,  in  1613, 
—  having  come  over  to  Port  Royal  in  1611, 
though  they  were  almost  immediately  interrupted 
by  the  English,  years  before  the  Pilgrims  came 
hither  to  enjoy  their  own  religion.  This  ac- 
cording to  Champlain.  Charlevoix  says  the 
same;  and  after  coming  from  France  in  1611, 
went  west  from  Port  Royal  along  the  coast  as 
far  as  the  Kennebec  in  1612,  and  was  often 
carried  from  Port  Royal  to  Mount  Desert. 


PROVINCETOWN  281 

ludeed,  the  Englishman's  history  of  New 
England  commences  only  when  it  ceases  to  be 
New  France.  Though  Cabot  was  the  first  to 
discover  the  continent  of  North  America,  Cham- 
plain,  in  the  edition  of  his  Voyages  printed  in 
1632,  after  the  English  had  for  a  season  got 
possession  of  Quebec  and  Port  Royal,  complains 
with  no  little  justice :  "  The  common  consent  of 
all  Europe  is  to  represent  New  France  as  ex- 
tending at  least  to  the  thirty-fifth  and  thirty- 
sixth  degrees  of  latitude,  as  appears  by  the 
maps  of  the  world  printed  in  Spain,  Italy,  Hol- 
land, Flanders,  Germany,  and  England,  until 
they  possessed  themselves  of  the  coasts  of  New 
France,  where  are  Arcadie,  the  Etchemins 
(Maine  and  New  Brunswick),  the  Almouchicois 
(Massachusetts  ?),  and  the  Great  River  St.  Law- 
rence, where  they  have  imposed,  according  to 
their  fancy,  such  names  as  New  England,  Scot- 
land, and  others ;  but  it  is  not  easy  to  efface  the 
memory  of  a  thing  which  is  known  to  all  Chris- 
tendom." 

That  Cabot  merely  landed  on  the  uninhabita- 
ble shore  of  Labrador  gave  the  English  no  just 
title  to  New  England,  or  to  the  United  States 
generally,  any  more  than  to  Patagonia.  His 
careful  biographer  (Biddle)  is  not  certain  in 
what  voyage  he  ran  down  the  coast  of  the  United 
States,  as  is  reported,  and  no  one  tells  us  what 


282  CAPE  COD 

he  saw.  Miller  (in  the  New  York  Hist.  Coll., 
vol.  i.  p.  28),  says  he  does  not  appear  to  have 
landed  anywhere.  Contrast  with  this  Verraz- 
zani's  tarrying  fifteen  days  at  one  place  on  the 
New  England  coast,  and  making  frequent  ex- 
cursions into  the  interior  thence.  It  chances 
that  the  latter's  letter  to  Francis  I.,  in  1524, 
contains  "the  earliest  original  account  extant  of 
the  Atlantic  coast  of  the  United  States;"  and 
even  from  that  time  the  northern  part  of  it  be- 
gan to  be  called  La  Terra  Francese,  or  French 
Land.  A  part  of  it  was  called  New  Holland  be- 
fore it  was  called  New  England.  The  English 
were  very  backward  to  explore  and  settle  the 
continent  which  they  had  sttunbled  upon.  The 
French  preceded  them  both  in  their  attempts  to 
colonize  the  continent  of  North  America  (Caro- 
lina and  Florida,  1562-64),  and  in  their  first 
permanent  settlement  (Port  Royal,  1605)  ;  and 
the  right  of  possession,  naturally  enough,  was 
the  one  wliich  England  mainly  respected  and 
recognized  in  the  case  of  Spain,  of  Portugal,  and 
also  of  France,  from  the  time  of  Henry  VII. 

The  explorations  of  the  French  gave  to  the 
world  the  first  valuable  maps  of  these  coasts. 
Denys  of  Honfleur  made  a  map  of  the  Gulf  of 
St.  Lawrence  in  1506.  No  sooner  had  Cartier 
explored  the  St.  Lawrence  in  1535,  than  there 
began  to  be  published  by  his  countrymen   re- 


PROVINCETOWN  283 

markably  accurate  charts  of  that  river  as  far  up 
as  Montreal.  It  is  almost  all  of  the  contiuent 
north  of  Florida  that  you  recognize  on  charts 
for  more  than  a  generation  afterward,  — though 
Verrazzani's  rude  plot  (made  under  French  aus- 
pices) was  regarded  by  Hackluyt,  more  than 
fifty  years  after  his  voyage  (in  1524),  as  the 
most  accurate  representation  of  our  coast.  The 
French  trail  is  distinct.  They  went  measuring 
and  sounding,  and  when  they  got  home  had 
something  to  show  for  their  voyages  and  explo- 
rations. There  was  no  danger  of  their  charts 
being  lost,  as  Cabot's  have  been. 

The  most  distinguished  navigators  of  that  day 
were  Italians,  or  of  Italian  descent,  and  Portu- 
guese. The  French  and  Spaniards,  though  less 
advanced  in  the  science  of  navigation  than  the 
former,  possessed  more  imagination  and  spirit 
of  adventure  than  the  English,  and  were  better 
fitted  to  be  the  explorers  of  a,  new  continent 
even  as  late  as  1751. 

This  spirit  it  was  which  so  early  carried  the 
French  to  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  Mississippi 
on  the  north,  and  the  Spaniard  to  the  same 
river  on  the  south.  It  was  long  before  our 
frontiers  reached  their  settlements  in  the  west, 
and  a  voyagetir  or  coiirextr  de  hois  is  still  our 
conductor  there.  Prairie  is  a  French  word,  as 
Sierra  is  a  Spanish  one.     Augustine  in  Florida 


284  CAPE   COD 

and  Santa  Fe  in  New  Mexico  (1582),  both  built 
by  the  Spaniards,  are  considered  the  oklest 
towns  in  the  United  States.  Within  the  mem- 
ory of  the  oldest  man,  the  Anglo-Americans 
w^ere  confined  between  the  Apalachian  Moun- 
tains and  the  sea,  "a  space  not  two  hundred 
miles  broad,"  while  the  Mississippi  was  by 
treaty  the  eastern  boundaiy  of  New  France.^ 
So  far  as  inland  discovery  was  concerned,  the 
adventurous  spirit  of  the  English  was  that  of 
sailors  who  land  but  for  a  day,  and  their  enter- 
prise the  enterjirise  of  traders.  Cabot  spoke 
like  an  Englishman,  as  he  was,  if  he  said,  as 
one  reports,  in  reference  to  the  discovery  of  the 
American  continent,  when  he  found  it  running 
toward  the  north,  that  it  was  a  great  disappoint- 
ment to  him,  being  in  his  way  to  India;  but  we 
would  rather  add  to  than  detract  from  the  fame 
of  so  great  a  discoverer. 

Samuel  Penhallow,  in  his  History  (Boston, 
1726),  p.  51,  speaking  of  "Port  Royal  and 
Nova  Scotia,"  says  of  the  last,  that  its  "first 
seizure  was  by  Sir  Sebastian  Cobbet  for  the 
crown  of  Great  Britain,  in  the  reign  of  King 
Henry  VII. ;  but  lay  dormant  till  the  year 
1621,"  when  Sir  William  Alexander  got  a  pat- 
ent of    it,   and    possessed  it  some   years;    and 

^  See  the  pamphlet    on   settling   the  Ohio,  London,  1763, 
bound  up  with  the  travels  of  Sir  John  Bartram. 


PROVINCETOWN  285 

afterward  Sir  David  Kirk  was  proprietor  of  it, 
but  erelong,  "to  the  surprise  of  all  thinking 
men,  it  was  given  up  unto  the  French." 

Even  as  late  as  1633  we  find  Winthrop,  the 
first  Governor  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony, 
who  was  not  the  most  likely  to  be  misinformed, 
who,  moreover,  has  the  fame,  at  least,  of  hav- 
ing discovered  Wachusett  Mountain  (discerned 
it  forty  miles  inland),  talking  about  the  "  Great 
Lake"  and  the  "hideous  swamps  about  it," 
near  which  the  Connecticut  and  the  "Poto- 
mack"  took  their  rise;  and  among  the  memora- 
ble events  of  the  year  1642  he  chronicles  Darby 
Field,  an  Irishman's  expedition  to  the  "White 
hill,"  from  whose  top  he  saw  eastward  what  he 
"judged  to  be  the  Gulf  of  Canada,"  and  west- 
ward what  he  "judged  to  be  the  great  lake 
which  Canada  River  comes  out  of,"  and  where 
he  found  much  "Muscovy  glass,"  and  "could 
rive  out  pieces  of  forty  feet  long  and  seven  or 
eight  broad."  While  the  very  inhabitants  of 
New  England  were  thus  fabling  about  the  coun- 
try a  hundred  miles  inland,  which  was  a  terra 
incognita  to  them,  —  or  rather  many  years  be- 
fore the  earliest  date  referred  to,  —  Champlain, 
the^rs^  Governor  of  Canada,  not  to  mention 
the  inland    discoveries  of    Cartier,^    Roberval, 

^  It  is  remarkable  that  the  iirst,  if  not  the  only,  part  of 
New  England  which  Cartier  saw  was  Vermont  (he  also  saw 
the  mountains  of  New  York),   from  Montreal  Mountain,  in 


286  CAPE   COD 

and  otliers,  of  the  preceding  century,  and  his 
own  earlier  voyage,  had  ah-eady  gone  to  war 
against  the  Iroquois  in  their  forest  forts,  and 
penetrated  to  the  Great  Lakes  and  wintered 
there,  before  a  Pilgrim  had  heard  of  New 
England.  In  Champlain's  Voyages,  printed  in 
1613,  there  is  a  plate  representing  a  fight  in 
which  he  aided  the  Canada  Indians  arainst  the 
Iroquois,  near  the  south  end  of  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  in  July,  1609,  eleven  years  before  the 
settlement  of  Plymouth.  Bancroft  says  he 
joined  the  Algonquins  in  an  expedition  against 
the  Iroquois,  or  Five  Nations,  in  the  northwest 
of  New  York.  This  is  that  "Great  Lake," 
which  the  English,  hearing  some  rumor  of  from 
the  French,  long  after,  locate  in  an  "Imaginary 
Province  called  Laconia,  and  spent  several  years 
about  1630  in  the  vain  attempt  to  discover."^ 
Thomas  Morton  has  a  chapter  on  this  "Great 
Lake."  In  the  edition  of  Champlain's  map 
dated  1632,  the  Falls  of  Niagai'a  appear;  and 
in  a  great  lake  northwest  of  Jie?'  Douce  (Lake 
Huron)  there  is  an  island  rejiresented,  over 
which  is  written,  "/sZe  ou  il  y  d  une  mine  de 

1535,  sixty-seven  years  before  Gosnold  saw  Cape  Cod.  If  see- 
ing is  discovering, —  and  that  is  all  that  it  is  proved  that  Cabot 
knew  of  the  coast  of  the  United  States,  —  then  Cartier  (to 
omit  Verrazzani  and  Gomez)  was  the  discoverer  of  New  Eng- 
land rather  than  Gosnold,  who  is  commonly  so  styled. 

•^  Sir  Ferdinand  Gorges,  in  Maine  Hist.  Coll.,  vol.  ii.  p.  68. 


PROVINCETOWN  287 

ciiivre,^^  —  "Island  where  there  is  a  mine  of 
copper."  This  will  do  for  an  offset  to  our  Gov- 
ernor's "Muscovy  glass."  Of  all  these  adven- 
tures and  discoveries  we  have  a  minute  and 
faithful  account,  giving  facts  and  dates  as  well 
as  charts  and  soundings,  all  scientific  and 
Frenchman-like,  with  scarcely  one  fable  or 
traveler's  story. 

Probably  Cape  Cod  was  visited  by  Europeans 
long  before  the  seventeenth  century.  It  may 
be  that  Cabot  himself  beheld  it.  Verrazzani, 
in  1524,  according  to  his  own  account,  spent 
fifteen  days  on  our  coast,  in  latitude  41°  40', 
(some  suppose  in  the  harbor  of  Newport,)  and 
often  went  five  or  six  leagues  into  the  interior 
there,  and  he  says  that  he  sailed  thence  at  once 
one  hundred  and  fifty  leagues  northeasterly, 
always  in  sight  of  the  coast.  There  is  a  chart 
in  Hackluyt's  "Divers  Voyages,"  made  accord- 
ing to  Verrazzani's  plot,  which  last  is  j)raised 
for  its  accuracy  by  Hackluyt,  but  I  cannot  dis- 
tinguish Cape  Cod  on  it,  unless  it  is  the  "C. 
Arenas,"  which  is  in  the  right  latitude,  though 
ten  degrees  west  of  "Claudia,"  which  is  thought 
to  be  Block  Island. 

The  "Biographic  Universelle"  informs  us 
that  "an  ancient  manuscript  chart  drawn  in 
1529  by  Diego  Kibeiro,  a  Spanish  cosmogra- 
pher,  has  preserved  the  memory  of  the  voyage 


288  CAPE   COD 

of  Gomez  [a  Portuguese  sent  out  by  Charles  the 
Fifth].  One  reads  in  it  under  (a?«  dessous)  the 
place  occupied  by  the  States  of  New  York, 
Connecticut,  and  Rhode  Island,  Terre  cV Etienne 
Gomez,  quil  decouvrit  en  1525  (Land  of  Etienne 
Gomez,  which  he  discovered  in  1525)."  This 
chart,  with  a  memoir,  was  published  at  Weimar 
in  the  last  century. 

Jean  Alphonse,  Roberval's  pilot  in  Canada 
in  1642,  one  of  the  most  skillful  navigators  of 
his  time,  and  who  has  given  remarkably  minute 
and  accurate  direction  for  sailing  up  the  St. 
Lawrence,  showing  that  he  knows  what  he  is 
talking  about,  says  in  his  "Routier"  (it  is  in 
Hackluyt),  "I  have  been  at  a  bay  as  far  as  the 
forty-second  degree,  between  Norimbegue  [the 
Penobscot?]  and  Florida,  but  I  have  not  ex- 
plored the  bottom  of  it,  and  I  do  not  know 
whether  it  passes  from  one  land  to  the  other," 
i.  e.,  to  Asia.  ("  J'ai  ete  a  une  Baye  jusques 
par  les  42®  degres  entre  la  Norimbegue  et  la 
Floride;  mais  je  n'en  ai  pas  cherche  le  fond,  et 
ne  sgais  pas  si  elle  passe  d'une  terre  a  I'autre.") 
This  may  refer  to  Massachusetts  Bay,  if  not 
possibly  to  the  western  inclination  of  the  coast 
a  little  farther  south.  When  he  says,  "I  have 
no  doubt  that  the  Norimbegue  enters  into  the 
river  of  Canada,"  he  is  perhaps  so  interpreting 
some    account   which   the   Indians    had    jjiven 


PROVINCETOWN  289 

respecting  the  route  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to 
the  Atlantic,  by  the  St-  John,  or  Penobscot, 
or  possibly  even  the  Hudson  River. 

We  hear  rumors  of  this  country  of  "Norum- 
bega "  and  its  great  city  from  many  quarters. 
In  a  discourse  by  a  great  French  sea-captain  in 
Ramusio's  third  volume  (1556-65),  this  is  said 
to  be  the  name  given  to  the  laud  by  its  inhabi- 
tants, and  Verrazzani  is  called  the  discoverer  of 
it;  another  in  1607  makes  the  natives  call  it,  or 
the  river,  Aguncia.  It  is  represented  as  an 
island  on  an  accompanying  chart.  It  is  fre- 
quently spoken  of  by  old  writers  as  a  country  of 
indefinite  extent,  between  Canada  and  Florida, 
and  it  appears  as  a  large  island  with  Cape  Bre- 
ton at  its  eastern  extremity,  on  the  map  made 
according  to  Verrazzani 's  plot  in  Hackluyt's 
"Divers  Voyages."  These  maps  and  rumors 
may  have  been  the  origin  of  the  notion,  common 
among  the  early  settlers,  that  New  England 
was  an  island.  The  country  and  city  of  Norum- 
bega  appear  about  where  Maine  now  is  on  a 
map  in  Ortelius  ("Theatrum  Orbis  Terrarum," 
Antwerp,  1570),  and  the  "R.  Grande  "  is  drawn 
where  the  Penobscot  or  St.  John  might  be. 

In  1604,  Champlain  being  sent  by  the  Sieur 
de  Monts  to  explore  the  coast  of  Norumbegue, 
sailed  up  the  Penobscot  twenty -two  or  twenty- 
three  leagues  from  "Isle  Haute,"  or  till  he  was 


290  CAPE  COD 

stopped  by  the  falls.  He  says:  "I  think  that 
this  river  is  that  which  many  pilots  and  histo- 
rians call  Norembegue,  and  which  the  greater 
part  have  described  as  great  and  spacious,  with 
numerous  islands ;  and  its  entrance  in  the  forty- 
third  or  forty-third  and  one  half,  or,  according 
to  others,  the  forty-fourth  degree  of  latitude, 
more  or  less."  He  is  convinced  tliat  "the 
greater  part "  of  those  who  speak  of  a  great  city 
there  have  never  seen  it,  but  repeat  a  mere 
rumor,  but  he  thinks  that  some  have  seen  the 
mouth  of  the  river,  since  it  answers  to  their  de- 
scription. 

Under  date  of  1607  Champlain  writes: 
"Three  or  four  leagues  north  of  the  Cap  de 
Poitrincourt  [near  the  head  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy 
in  Nova  Scotia]  w^e  found  a  cross,  which  was 
very  old,  covered  with  moss  and  almost  all  de- 
cayed, which  was  an  evident  sign  that  there  had 
formerly  been  Christians  there." 

Also  the  following  passage  from  Lescarbot 
wdll  show  how  much  the  neighboring  coasts  were 
frequented  by  Europeans  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. Speaking  of  his  return  from  Port  Royal 
to  France  in  1607,  he  says:  "At  last,  within 
four  leagues  of  Campseau  [the  Gut  of  Caiiso], 
we  arrived  at  a  harbor  [in  Nova  Scotia],  where 
a  worthy  old  gentleman  from  St.  John  de  Lus, 
named   Captain   Savale,  was   fishing,  who   re^ 


PROVINCETOWN  291 

ceived  us  with  the  utmost  courtesy.  And  as 
this  harbor,  which  is  small,  but  very  good,  has 
no  name,  I  have  given  it  on  my  geographical 
chart  the  name  of  Savalet.  [It  is  on  Cham- 
plain's  map  also.]  This  worthy  man  told  us 
that  this  voyage  was  the  forty-second  which  he 
had  made  to  those  parts,  and  yet  the  Newfound- 
landers \_Terre  7ieuviers]  make  only  one  a  year. 
He  was  wonderfully  content  with  his  fishery, 
and  informed  us  that  he  made  daily  fifty  crowns' 
worth  of  cod,  and  that  his  voyage  would  be 
worth  ten  thousand  francs.  He  had  sixteen 
men  in  his  employ ;  and  his  vessel  was  of  eighty 
tons,  which'could  carry  a  hundred  thousand  dry 
cod."^  They  dried  their  fish  on  the  rocks  on 
shore. 

The  "Isola  della  Rena"  (Sable  Island?)  ap- 
pears on  the  chart  of  "Nuova  Francia"  and 
Norumbega,  accompanying  the  "Discourse" 
above  referred  to  in  Ramusio's  third  volume, 
edition  1556-65.  Champlain  speaks  of  there 
being  at  the*Isle  of  Sable,  in  1604,  "grass  pas- 
tured by  oxen  (boeufs)  and  cows  which  the  Por- 
tuguese carried  there  more  than  sixty  years  ago," 
i.  e. ,  sixty  years  before  1613 ;  in  a  later  edition 
he  says,  which  came  out  of  a  Spanish  vessel 
which  was  lost  in  endeavoring  to  settle  on  the 
Isle  of  Sable;  and  he  states  that  De  la  Roche's 

1  Histoire  de  la  Nouvelle  France,  1612. 


292  CAPE   COD 

men,  who  were  left  on  this  island  seven  years 
from  1598,  lived  on  the  flesh  of  these  cattle 
which  they  found  "e^i  quantie,^''  and  built  houses 
out  of  the  wrecks  of  vessels  which  came  to  the 
island  ("perhaps  Gilbert's"),  thei-e  being  no 
wood  or  stone.  Lescai-bot  says  that  they  lived 
"on  fish  and  the  milk  of  cows  left  there  about 
eighty  years  before  by  Baron  de  Leri  and  Saint 
Just."  Charlevoix  says  they  ate  up  the  cattle 
and  then  lived  on  fish.  Haliburton  speaks  of 
cattle  left  there  as  a  rumor.  De  Leri  and  Saint 
Just  had  suggested  plans  of  colonization  on  the 
Isle  of  Sable  as  early  as  1515  (1508  ?)  according 
to  Bancroft,  referring  to  Charlevoix.  These 
are  but  a  few  of  the  instances  which  I  might 
tiuote. 

Cape  Cod  is  commonly  said  to  have  been  dis- 
covered in  1602.  We  will  consider  at  length 
under  what  circumstances,  and  with  what  obser- 
vation and  expectations,  the  first  Englishmen 
whom  history  clearly  discerns  approached  the 
coast  of  New  England.  According  to  the  ac- 
counts of  Archer  and  Brereton  (both  of  whom 
accompanied  Gosnold),  on  the  26th  of  March, 
1602,  old  style,  Captain  Bartholomew  Gosnold 
set  sail  from  Falmouth,  England,  for  the  North 
Part  of  Virginia,  in  a  small  bark  called  the 
Concord,  they  being  in  all,  says  one  account, 
"thirty-two   persons,    whereof    eight    mariners 


PR  0  VINCE  TO  WN  293 

and  sailors,  twelve  purposing  upon  the  discovery 
to  return  with  the  ship  for  England,  the  rest 
remain  there  for  population."  This  is  regarded 
as  "the  first  attempt  of  the  English  to  make  a 
settlement  within  the  limits  of  New  England," 
Pursuing  a  new  and  a  shorter  course  than  the 
usual  one  by  the  Canaries,  "the  14th  of  April 
following"  they  had  sight  of  Saint  Mary's,  an 
island  of  the  Azores."  As  their  sailors  were 
few  and  "none  of  the  best,"  (I  use  their  own 
phrases,)  and  they  were  "going  upon  an  un- 
known coast,"  they  were  not  "over-bold  to  stand 
in  with  the  shore  but  in  open  weather; "  so  they 
made  their  first  discovery  of  land  with  the  lead. 
The  23d  of  April  the  ocean  appeared  yellow, 
but  on  taking  up  some  of  the  water  in  a  bucket, 
"it  altered  not  either  in  color  or  taste  from  the 
sea  azure."  The  7th  of  May  they  saw  divers 
birds  whose  names  they  knew,  and  many  others 
in  their  "English  tongue  of  no  name."  The 
8th  of  May  "the  water  changed  to  a  yellowish 
green,  where  at  seventy  fathoms"  they  "had 
ground.'  The  9th,  they  had  upon  their  lead 
"many  glittering  stones,"  —  "which  might 
promise  some  mineral  matter  in  the  bottom." 
The  10th,  they  were  over  a  bank  which  they 
thought  to  be  near  the  western  end  of  St.  John's 
Island,  and  saw  schools  of  fish.  The  12th,  they 
say,  "  continually  passed  fleeting  by  us  sea-oare, 


294  CAPE   COD 

which  seemed  to  have  their  movable  course 
towards  the  northeast."  On  the  13th  they  ob- 
served "great  beds  of  weeds,  much  wood,  and 
divers  things  else  floating  by,"  and  "had  smell- 
ing of  the  shore  much  as  from  the  southern 
Cape  and  Andalusia  in  Spain."  On  Friday, 
the  14th,  early  in  the  morning  they  descried 
land  on  the  north,  in  the  latitude  of  forty-three 
degrees,  apparently  some  part  of  the  coast  of 
Maine.  Williamson  ^  says  it  certainly  could  not 
have  been  south  of  the  central  Isle  of  Shoals. 
Belknap  inclines  to  think  it  the  south  side  of 
Cape  Ann.  Standing  fair  along  by  the  shore, 
about  twelve  o^clock  the  same  day,  they  came  to 
anchor  and  were  visited  by  eight  savages,  who 
came  off  to  them  "in  a  Biscay  shallop,  with 
sail  and  oars," — "an  iron  grapple,  and  a  ket- 
tle of  copper."  These  they  at  first  mistook  for 
"Christians  distressed."  One  of  them  was 
"apparelled  with  a  waistcoat  and  breeches  of 
black  serge,  made  after  our  sea-fashion,  hoes 
and  shoes  on  his  feet;  all  the  rest  (saving  one 
that  had  a  pair  of  breeches  of  blue  cloth)  were 
naked."  They  appeared  to  have  had  dealings 
with  "some  Basques  of  St.  John  de  Luz,  and 
to  understand  much  more  tha.n  we,"  say  the 
English,  "for  want  of  language,  could  compre- 
hend."   But  they  soon  "set  sail  westward,  leav- 

^  History  of  Maine. 


PROVINCETOWN  295 

ing  them  and  their  coast."    (This  was  a  remark- 
able discovery  for  discoverers.) 

"The  15th  day,"  writes  Gabriel  Archer, 
"we  had  again  sight  of  the  land,  which  made 
ahead,  being  as  we  thought  an  island,  by  reason 
of  a  large  sound  that  appeared  westward  be- 
tween it  and  the  main,  for  coming  to  the  west 
end  thereof,  we  did  perceive  a  large  opening, 
we  called  it  Shoal  Hope.  Near  this  cape  we 
came  to  anchor  in  fifteen  fathoms,  where  we 
took  great  store  of  cod-fish,  for  which  we  altered 
the  name  and  called  it  Cape  Cod.  Here  we  saw 
skulls  of  herring,  mackerel,  and  other  small 
fish,  in  great  abundance.  This  is  a  low,  sandy 
shoal,  but  without  danger ;  also  we  came  to  an- 
chor again  in  sixteen  fathoms,  fair  by  the  land 
in  the  latitude  of  forty-two  degrees.  This  Cape 
is  well  near  a  mile  broad,  and  lieth  northeast  by 
east.  The  Captain  went  here  ashore,  and  found 
the  ground  to  be  full  of  peas,  strawberries 
whortleberries,  etc.,  as  then  unripe,  the  sand 
also  by  the  shore  somewhat  deep ;  the  firewood 
there  by  us  taken  in  was  of  cypress,  birch, 
witch-hazel,  and  beach.  A  young  Indian  came 
here  to  tlie  captain,  armed  with  his  bow  and  ar- 
rows, and  had  certain  plates  of  copper  hanging 
at  his  ears;  he  showed  a  willingness  to  help  us 
in  our  occasions." 

"The  16th  we  trended  the  coast   southerly, 


29G  CAPE   COD 

which  was  all  champaign  and  full  of  grass,  but 
the  islands  somewhat  woody." 

Or,  according  to  the  account  of  John  Brere- 
ton,  "riding  here,"  that  is,  where  they  first 
communicated  with  the  natives,  "in  no  very 
good  harbor,  and  withal  doubting  the  weather, 
about  three  of  the  clock  the  same  day  in  the  af- 
ternoon we  weighed,  and  standing  southerly  off 
into  sea  the  rest  of  that  day  and  the  night  fol- 
lowing, with  a  fresh  gale  of  wind,  in  the  morn- 
ing we  found  ourselves  embayed  with  a  mighty 
headland;  but  coming  to  an  anchor  about  nine 
of  the  clock  the  same  day,  within  a  league  of  the 
shore,  we  hoisted  out  the  one  half  of  our  shallop, 
and  Captain  Bartholomew  Gosnold,  myself  and 
three  others,  went  ashore,  being  a  white  sandy 
and  very  bold  shore ;  and  marching  all  that  af- 
ternoon with  our  muskets  on  our  necks,  on  the 
highest  hills  which  we  saw  (the  weather  very 
hot)  at  length  we  perceived  this  headland  to  be 
parcel  of  the  main,  and  sundry  islands  lying 
almost  round  about  it;  so  returning  towards 
evening  to  our  shallop  (for  by  that  time  the  other 
part  was  brought  ashore  and  set  together),  we 
espied  an  Indian,  a  young  man  of  proper  stat- 
ure, and  of  a  pleasing  countenance,  and  after 
some  familiarity  with  him,  we  left  him  at  the 
sea  side,  and  returned  to  our  ship,  where  in  five 
or  six  hours'  absence  we  had  pestered  our  ship 


PROVINCETOWN  297 

so  with  codfish,  that  we  threw  numbers  of  them 
overboard  again;  and  surely  I  am  persuaded 
that  in  the  months  of  March,  April,  and  May, 
there  is  upon  this  coast  better  fishing,  and  in  as 
great  plenty,  as  in  Newfoundland ;  for  the  skulls 
of  mackerel,  herrings,  cod,  and  other  fish,  that 
we  daily  saw  as  we  went  and  came  from  the 
shore,  were  wonderful,"  etc. 

"  From  this  place  we  sailed  round  about  this 
headland,  almost  all  the  points  of  the  compass, 
the  shore  very  bold ;  but  as  no  coast  is  free  from 
dangers,  so  I  am  persuaded  this  is  as  free  as 
any.  The  land  somewhat  low,  full  of  goodly 
woods,  but  in  some  places  plain." 

It  is  not  quite  clear  on  which  side  of  the  Cape 
they  landed.  If  it  was  inside,  as  would  appear 
from  Brereton's  words,  "From  this  place  we 
sailed  round  about  this  headland  almost  all  the 
points  of  the  compass,"  it  must  have  been  on 
the  western  shore  either  of  Truro  or  Wellfleet. 
To  one  sailing  south  into  Barnstable  Bay  along 
the  Cape,  the  only  "white,  sandy,  and  very  bold 
shore"  that  appears  is  in  these  towns,  though 
the  bank  is  not  so  high  there  as  on  the  eastern 
side.  At  a  distance  of  four  or  five  miles  the 
sandy  cliffs  there  look  like  a  long  fort  of  yellow 
sandstone,  they  are  so  level  and  regular,  espe- 
cially in  Wellfleet,  —  the  fort  of  the  land  de- 
fending itself  against  the  encroachments  of  the 


298  CAPE   COD 

Ocean.  They  are  streaked  here  and  there  with 
a  reddish  sand  as  if  painted.  Farther  south  the 
shore  is  more  flat,  and  less  obviously  and  ab- 
ruptly sandy,  and  a  little  tinge  of  green  here 
and  there  in  the  marshes  appears  to  the  sailor 
like  a  rare  and  precious  emerald.  But  in  the 
Journal  of  Pring's  Voyage  the  next  year  (and 
Salterne,  who  was  with  Pring,  had  accompanied 
Gosnold)  it  is  said,  "Departing  hence  [i.  e., 
from  Savage  Rocks]  we  bore  unto  that  great 
gulf  which  Captain  Gosnold  overshot  the  year 
before."! 

So  they  sailed  round  the  Cape,  calling  the 
southeasterly  extremity  "Point  Cave,"  till  they 
came  to  an  island  which  they  named  Martha's 
Vineyard  (now  called  No  Man's  Land),  and  an- 
other on  which  they  dwelt  awhile,  which  they 
named  Elizabeth's  Island,  in  honor  of  the 
queen,  one  of  the  group  since  so  called,  now 
known  by  its  Indian  name  Cuttyhunk.  There 
they  built  a  small  storehouse,  the  first  house 
built  by  the  English  in  New  England,  whose 
cellar  could  recently  still  be  seen,  made  partly 

^  "  Savage  Roek,"  -which  some  have  supposed  to  be,  from 
the  name,  the  Salvages,  a  ledge  about  two  miles  off  Rockport, 
Cape  Ann,  was  probably  the  Nubble,  a  large,  high  rock  near 
the  shore,  on  the  east  side  of  York  Harbor,  Maine.  The  first 
land  made  by  Gosnold  is  presumed  by  experienced  navigators 
to  be  Cape  Elizabeth  on  the  same  coast.  (See  Babson's  His- 
tory of  Gloucester,  Massachusetts.) 


PROVINCETOWN  299 

of  stones  taken  from  the  beach.  Bancroft  says 
(edition  of  1837)  the  ruins  of  the  fort  can  no 
longer  be  discerned.  They  who  were  to  have 
remained  becoming  discontented,  all  together 
set  sail  for  England,  with  a  load  of  sassafras 
and  other  commodities,  on  the  18th  of  June  fol- 
lowing. 

The  next  year  came  Martin  Pring,  looking 
for  sassafras,  and  thereafter  they  began  to  come 
thick  and  fast,  until  long  after  sassafras  had 
lost  its  reputation. 

These  are  the  oldest  accounts  which  we  have 
of  Cape  Cod,  unless,  perchance,  Cape  Cod  is, 
as  some  suppose,  the  same  with  that  "Kial-ar- 
nes  "  or  Keel-Cape,  on  which,  according  to  old 
Icelandic  manuscripts,  Thorwald,  son  of  Eric 
the  Red,  after  sailing  many  days  southwest 
from  Greenland,  broke  his  keel  in  the  year 
1004;  and  where,  according  to  another,  in  some 
respects  less  trustworthy  manuscript,  Thor-finn 
Karlsefue  ("that  is,  one  who  promises  or  is 
destined  to  be  an  able  or  great  man ;  "  he  is  said 
to  have  had  a  son  born  in  New  England,  from 
whom  Thorwaldsen  the  sculptor  was  descended), 
sailing  past,  in  the  year  1007,  with  his  wife 
Gudrida,  Snorre  Thorbrandson,  Biarne  Grinolf- 
son,  and  Thorhall  Garnlason,  distinguished 
Norsemen,  in  three  ships  containing  "one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  men  and  all  sorts  of  live  stock" 


300  CAPE   COD 

(probably  the  first  Norway  rats  among  the  rest), 
having  the  land  "on  the  right  side  "of  them, 
"roved  ashore,"  and  found  "  Or-cefi  (trackless 
deserts),"  and  ^^  St7'a7icl-ir  lang-ar  oh  sand-ar 
(long,  narrow  beaches  and  sand-hills),"  and 
"called  the  shores  Furdu-strand-ir  (Wonder 
Strands),  because  the  sailing  by  them  seemed 
long." 

According  to  the  Icelandic  manuscripts, 
Tlioriccdd  was  the  first  then,  —  unless  possibly 
one  Biarne  Heriulfson  (i.  e.,  son  of  Heriulf)  who 
had  been  seized  with  a  great  desire  to  travel, 
sailing  from  Iceland  to  Greenland  in  the  year 
986  to  join  his  father  who  had  migrated  thither, 
for  he  had  resolved,  says  the  manuscript,  "to 
spend  the  following  winter,  like  all  the  preced- 
ing ones,  with  his  father,"  —  being  driven  far 
to  the  southwest  by  a  storm,  when  it  cleared  up 
saw  the  low  land  of  Cape  Cod  looming  faintly 
in  the  distance ;  but  this  not  answering  to  the 
description  of  Greenland,  he  put  his  vessel 
about,  and,  sailing  northward  along  the  coast, 
at  length  reached  Greenland  and  his  father. 
At  any  rate,  he  may  put  forth  a  strong  claim  to 
be  regarded  as  the  discoverer  of  the  American 
continent. 

These  Northmen  were  a  hardy  race,  whose 
younger  sons  inherited  the  ocean,  and  traversed 
it  without  chart  or  compass,  and  they  are  said 


PROVINCETOWN  301 

to  have  been  "tlie  first  who  learned  the  art  of 
sailing  on  a  wind."  Moreover,  they  had  a 
habit  of  casting  their  door-posts  overboard  and 
settling  wherever  they  went  ashore.  But  as 
Biarne,  and  Thorwald,  and  Thorfinn  have  not 
mentioned  the  latitude  and  longitude  distinctly 
enough,  though  we  have  great  respect  for  them 
as  skillful  and  adventurous  navigators,  we  must 
for  the  present  remain  in  doubt  as  to  what  capes 
they  did  see.  We  think  that  they  were  consid- 
erably further  north. 

If  time  and  space  permitted,  I  could  present 
the  claims  of  several  other  worthy  persons. 
Lescarbot,  in  1609,  asserts  that  the  French  sail- 
ors had  been  accustomed  to  frequent  the  New- 
foundland Banks  from  time  immemorial,  "for 
the  codfish  with  which  they  feed  almost  all 
Europe  and  supply  all  sea-going  vessels,"  and 
accordingly  "the  language  of  the  nearest  lands 
is  half  Basque;  "  and  he  quotes  Postel,  a  learned 
but  extravagant  French  author,  born  in  1510, 
only  six  years  after  the  Basques,  Bretons,  and 
Normans  are  said  to  have  discovered  the  Grand 
Bank  and  adjacent  islands,  as  saying,  in  his 
Charte  Geographique,  which  we  have  not  seen : 
"Terra  haec  ob  lucrosissimam  j)iscationis  utili- 
tatem  summa  litterarum  memoria  a  Gallis  adiri 
solita,  et  ante  mille  sexcentos  annos  frequentari 
solita  est;  sed  eo  quod  sit  urbibus   inculta   et 


302  CAPE   COD 

vasta,  spreta  est."  "This  land,  on  acconnt  of 
its  very  lucrative  fishery,  was  accustomed  to  be 
visited  by  the  Gauls  from  the  very  dawn  of  his- 
tory, and  more  than  sixteen  hundred  years  ago 
was  accustomed  to  be  frequented;  but  because 
it  was  unadorned  with  cities,  and  waste,  it  was 
despised." 

It  is  the  old  story.  Bob  Smith  discovered 
the  mine,  but  I  discovered  it  to  the  world.  And 
now  Bob  Smith  is  putting  in  his  claim. 

But  let  us  not  laugh  at  Postel  and  his  visions. 
He  was  perhaps  better  posted  up  than  we ;  and 
if  he  does  seem  to  draw  the  long  bow,  it  may  be 
because  he  had  a  long  way  to  shoot,  —  quite 
across  the  Atlantic.  If  America  was  found  and 
lost  again  once,  as  most  of  us  believe,  then  why 
not  twice?  especially  as  there  were  likely  to  be 
so  few  records  of  an  earlier  discovery.  Con- 
sider what  stuff  history  is  made  of,  — ■  that  for 
the  most  part  it  is  merely  a  story  agreed  on  by 
posterity.  Who  will  tell  us  even  how  many 
Russians  were  engaged  in  the  battle  of  the 
Chernaya,  the  other  day?  Yet,  no  doubt,  Mr. 
Scriblerus,  the  historian,  will  fix  on  a  definite 
number  for  the  schoolboys  to  commit  to  their 
excellent  memories.  What,  then,  of  the  num- 
ber of  Persians  at  Salamis?  The  historian 
whom  I  read  knew  as  much  about  the  position 
of  the  parties  and  their  tactics  in  the  last-men- 


PROVINCETOWN  303 

tioned  affair,  as  tliey  who  describe  a  recent  bat- 
tle in  an  article  for  tlie  press  nowadays,  before 
the  particulars  have  arrived.  I  believe  that,  if 
I  were  to  live  the  life  of  mankind  over  again 
myself,  (which  I  would  not  be  hired  to  do,)  with 
the  Universal  History  in  my  hands,  I  should 
not  be  able  to  tell  what  was  what. 

Earlier  than  the  date  Postel  refers  to,  at  any 
rate,  Cape  Cod  lay  in  utter  darkness  to  the  civ- 
ilized world,  thovigh  even  then  the  sun  rose  from 
eastward  out  of  the  sea  every  day,  and,  rolling 
over  the  Cape,  went  down  westward  into  the 
Bay.  It  was  even  then  Cape  and  Bay,  —  ay, 
the  Cape  of  Codfish,  and  the  Bay  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts, perchance. 

Quite  recently,  on  the  11th  of  November, 
1620,  old  style,  as  is  well  known,  the  Pilgrims 
in  the  Mayflower  came  to  anchor  in  Cape  Cod 
Harbor.  They  had  loosed  from  Plymouth, 
England,  the  6th  of  September,  and,  in  the 
words  of  "Mourt's  Relation,"  "after  many 
difficulties  in  boisterous  storms,  at  length,  by 
God's  providence,  upon  the  9th  of  November, 
we  espied  land,  which  we  deemed  to  be  Cape 
Cod,  and  so  afterward  it  proved.  Upon  the 
11th  of  November  we  came  to  anchor  in  the 
bay,  which  is  a  good  harbor  and  pleasant  bay, 
circled  round  except  in  the  entrance,  which  is 
about  four  miles  over  from  land  to  land,  com- 


304  CAPE   COD 

passed  about  to  tlie  very  sea  with  oaks,  pines, 
juniper,  sassafras,  and  other  sweet  wood.  It  is 
a  harbor  wherein  a  thousand  sail  of  ships  may 
safely  ride.  There  we  relieved  ourselves  with 
wood  and  water,  and  refreshed  our  people, 
while  our  shallop  was  fitted  to  coast  the  bay,  to 
search  for  an  habitation."  There  we  put  up  at 
Puller's  Hotel,  passing  by  the  Pilgrim  House  as 
too  high  for  us  (we  learned  afterward  that  we 
need  not  have  been  so  particular),  and  we  re- 
freshed ourselves  with  hashed  fish  and  beans, 
beside  taking  in  a  supply  of  liquids  (which  were 
not  intoxicating),  while  our  legs  were  refitted  to 
coast  the  back-side.  Further  say  the  Pilgrims : 
"We  could  not  come  near  the  shore  by  three 
quarters  of  an  English  mile,  because  of  shallow 
water;  which  was  a  great  prejudice  to  us;  for 
our  people  going  on  shore  were  forced  to  wade 
a  bow-shot  or  two  in  going  aland,  which  caused 
many  to  get  colds  and  coughs;  for  it  was  many 
times  freezing  cold  weather."  They  afterwards 
say:  "It  brought  much  weakness  amongst  ue; " 
and  no  doubt  it  led  to  the  death  of  some  at  Ply- 
mouth. 

The  harbor  of  Provincetown  is  very  shallow 
near  the  shore,  especially  about  the  head,  where 
the  Pilgrims  landed.  When  I  left  this  place 
the  next  summer,  the  steamer  could  not  get  up 
to  the  wharf,  but  we  were  carried  out  to  a  large 


PROVINCETOWN  305 

boat  in  a  cart  as  much  as  thirty  rods  in  shallow 
water,  while  a  troop  of  little  boys  kept  us  com- 
pany, wading  around,  and  thence  we  pulled  to 
the  steamer  by  a  rope.  The  harbor  being  thus 
shallow  and  sandy  about  the  shore,  coasters  are 
accustomed  to  run  in  here  to  paint  their  vessels, 
which  are  left  high  and  dry  when  the  tide  goes 
down. 

It  chanced  that  the  Sunday  morning  that  we 
were  there,  I  had  joined  a  party  of  men  who 
were  smoking  and  lolling  over  a  pile  of  boards 
on  one  of  the  wharves,  (nihil  hwnanum  a  me, 
etc.,)  when  our  landlord,  who  was  a  sort  of 
tithing-man,  went  off  to  stop  some  sailors  who 
were  engaged  in  painting  their  vessel.  Our 
party  was  recruited  from  time  to  time  by  other 
citizens,  who  came  rubbing  their  eyes  as  if  they 
had  just  got  out  of  bed;  and  one  old  man  re- 
marked to  me  that  it  was  the  custom  there  to  lie 
abed  very  late  on  Sunday,  it  being  a  day  of 
rest.  I  remarked  that,  as  I  thought,  they  might 
as  well  let  the  man  paint,  for  all  us.  It  was 
not  noisy  work,  and  would  not  disturb  our  devo- 
tions. But  a  young  man  in  the  company,  tak- 
ing his  pipe  out  of  his  mouth,  said  that  it  was 
a  plain  contradiction  of  the  law  of  God,  which 
he  quoted,  and  if  they  did  not  have  some  such 
regulation,  vessels  would  run  in  there  to  tar, 
and  rig,  and  paint,  and  they  would  have  no  Sab- 


30G  CAPE   COD 

bath  at  all.  This  was  a  good  argument  enough, 
if  he  had  not  put  it  in  the  name  of  religion. 
The  next  summer,  as  I  sat  on  a  hill  there  one 
sultry  Sunday  afternoon,  the  meeting-house 
windows  being  open,  my  meditations  were  inter- 
rupted by  the  noise  of  a  preacher  who  shouted 
like  a  boatswain,  profaning  the  quiet  atmo- 
sphere, and  who,  I  fancied,  must  have  taken 
off  his  coat.  Tew  things  could  have  been  more 
disgusting  or  disheartening.  I  wished  the  tith- 
ing-man  would  stop  him. 

The  Pilgrims  say,  "There  was  the  greatest 
store  of  fowl  that  ever  we  saw." 

We  saw  no  fowl  there,  except  gulls  of  various 
kinds;  but  the  greatest  store  of  them  that  ever 
we  saw  was  on  a  flat  but  slightly  covered  with 
water  on  the  east  side  of  the  harbor,  and  we  ob- 
served a  man  who  had  landed  there  from  a  boat 
creeping  along  the  shore  in  order  to  get  a  shot 
at  them,  but  they  all  rose  and  flew  away  in  a 
great  scattering  flock,  too  soon  for  him,  having 
apparently  got  their  dinners,  though  he  did  not 
get  his. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  Pilgrims  (or  their 
reporter)  describe  this  part  of  the  Cape,  not 
only  as  well  wooded,  but  as  having  a  deep  and 
excellent  soil,  and  hardly  mention  the  word 
sand.  Now  what  strikes  the  voyager  is  the  bar- 
renness and  desolation  of  the  land.     They  found 


PROVINCETOWN  307 

"the  ground  or  earth  sand-hills,  much  like  the 
downs  in  Holland,  but  much  better ;  the  crust  of 
the  earth,  a  spit's  depth,  excellent  black  earth." 
We  found  that  the  earth  had  lost  its  crust,  — 
if,  indeed,  it  ever  had  any,  —  and  that  there 
was  no  soil  to  speak  of.  We  did  not  see  enough 
black  earth  in  Provincetown  to  fill  a  flower -pot, 
unless  in  the  swamps.  They  found  it  "all 
wooded  with  oaks,  pines,  sassafras,  juniper, 
birch,  holly,  vines,  some  ash,  walnut;  the  wood 
for  the  most  part  open  and  without  underwood, 
fit  either  to  go  or  ride  in."  We  saw  scarcely 
anything  high  enough  to  be  called  a  tree,  except 
a  little  low  wood  at  the  east  end  of  the  town, 
and  the  few  ornamental  trees  in  its  yards,  — • 
only  a  few  small  specimens  of  some  of  the  above 
kinds  on  the  sand-hills  in  the  rear ;  but  it  was 
all  thick  shrubbery,  without  any  large  wood 
above  it,  very  unfit  either  to  go  or  ride  in. 
The  greater  part  of  the  land  was  a  perfect  des- 
ert of  yellow  sand,  rippled  like  waves  by  the 
wind,  in  which  only  a  little  beach-grass  grew 
here  and  there.  They  say  that,  just  after  pass- 
ing the  head  of  East  Harbor  Creek,  the  boughs 
and  bushes  "tore  "  their  "very  armor  in  pieces  " 
(the  same  thing  happened  to  such  armor  as  we 
wore,  when  out  of  curiosity  we  took  to  the 
bushes);  or  they  came  to  deep  valleys,  "full  of 
brush,  wood-gaile,  and  long  grass,"  and  "found 
springs  of  fresh  water." 


308  CAPE   COD 

For  the  most  part  we  saw  neither  bough  nor 
bush,  not  so  much  as  a  shrub  to  tear  our  clothes 
against  if  we  would,  and  a  sheep  would  lose 
none  of  its  fleece,  even  if  it  found  herbage 
enough  to  make  fleece  grow  there.  We  saw 
rather  beach  and  poverty-grass,  and  merely  sor- 
rel .  enough  to  color  the  surface.  I  suppose, 
then,  by  wood-gaile  they  mean  the  bayberry. 

All  accounts  agree  in  affirming  that  this  part 
of  the  Cape  was  comparatively  well  wooded  a 
century  ago.  But  notwithstanding  the  great 
changes  which  have  taken  place  in  these  re- 
spects, I  cannot  but  think  that  we  must  make 
some  allowance  for  the  greenness  of  the  Pilgrims 
in  these  matters,  which  caused  them  to  see 
green.  We  do  not  believe  that  the  trees  were 
large  or  the  soil  was  deep  here.  Their  account 
may  be  true  particularly,  but  it  is  generally 
false.  They  saw  literally,  as  well  as  figura- 
tively, but  one  side  of  the  Cape.  They  natu- 
rally exaggerated  the  fairness  and  attractiveness 
of  the  land,  for  they  were  glad  to  get  to  any 
land  at  all  after  that  anxious  voyage.  Every- 
thing appeared  to  them  of  the  color  of  the  rose, 
and  had  the  scent  of  juniper  and  sassafras. 
Very  different  is  the  general  and  off-hand  ac- 
count given  by  Captain  John  Smith,  who  was 
on  this  coast  six  years  earlier,  and  speaks  like 
au  old  traveler,  voyager,  and  soldier,  who  had 


PROVINCETO  WN  309 

seen  too  much  of  the  workl  to  exaggerate,  or 
even  to  dwell  long  on  a  part  of  it.  In  his 
"Description  of  New  England,"  printed  in 
1616,  after  speaking  of  Accomack,  since  called 
Plymouth,  he  says:  "Cape  Cod  is  the  next  pre- 
sents itself,  which  is  only  a  headland  of  high 
hills  of  sand,  overgrown  with  shrubby  pines, 
hwts  \i.  e.  whorts,  or  whortleberries],  and  such 
trash,  but  an  excellent  harbor  for  all  weathers. 
This  Cape  is  made  by  the  main  sea  on  the  one 
side,  and  a  gi*eat  bay  on  the  other,  in  form  of 
a  sickle."  Champlain  had  already  written, 
"Which  we  named  Cap  Blanc  (Cape  White), 
because  they  were  sands  and  downs  (sables  et 
dimes)  which  appeared  thus." 

When  the  Pilgrims  get  to  Plymouth  their 
reporter  says  again,  "The  land  for  the  crust  of 
the  earth  is  a  spit's  depth,"  —  that  would  seem 
to  be  their  recipe  for  an  earth's  crust,  —  "ex- 
cellent black  mould  and  fat  in  some  places." 
However,  according  to  Bradford  himself,  whom 
some  consider  the  author  of  part  of  "Mourt's 
Relation,"  they  wli£»  came  over  in  the  Fortune 
the  next  year  were  somewhat  daunted  when 
"they  came  into  the  harbor  of  Cape  Cod,  and 
there  saw  nothing  but  a  naked  and  barren 
place."  They  soon  found  out  their  mistake 
with  respect  to  the  goodness  of  Plymouth  soil. 
Yet  when  at  length,  some  years  later,  v/lien  they 


310  CAPE   COD 

were  full}-^  satisfied  of  the  poorness  of  the  place 
which  they  had  chosen,  "the  greater  part, "  says 
Bradford,  "consented  to  a  removal  to  a  place 
called  Nausett,"  they  agi-eed  to  remove  all  to- 
gether to  Naiiset,  now  Eastham,  which  was 
jumping  out  of  the  frying-pan  into  the  fire;  and 
some  of  the  most  respectable  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Plymouth  did  actually  remove  thither  accord- 
ingly. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  the  Pilgrims  pos- 
sessed but  few  of  the  qualities  of  the  modern 
pioneer.  They  were  not  the  ancestors  of  the 
American  backwoodsmen.  They  did  not  go  at 
once  into  the  woods  with  their  axes.  They  were 
a  family  and  church,  and  were  more  anxious  to 
keep  together,  though  it  were  on  the  sand,  than 
to  explore  and  colonize  a  New  World.  When 
the  above-mentioned  company  removed  to  East- 
ham,  the  church  at  Plymouth  was  left,  to  use 
Bradford's  expression,  "like  an  ancient  mother 
grown  old,  and  forsaken  of  her  children." 
Though  they  landed  on  Clark's  Island  in  Ply- 
mouth harbor,  the  9th  of  December  (O.  S.)i 
and  the  16th  all  hands  came  to  Plymouth,  and 
the  18th  they  rambled  about  the  mainland,  and 
the  19th  decided  to  settle  there,  it  was  the  8th 
of  January  before  Francis  Billington  went  with 
one  of  the  master's  mates  to  look  at  the  magnifi- 
cent pond  or  lake  now  called  "Billington  Sea," 


PROVINCETOWN  311 

about  two  miles  distant,  which  he  had  discov- 
ered from  the  top  of  a  tree,  and  mistook  for  a 
great  sea.  And  the  7th  of  March  "Master 
Carver  with  five  others  went  to  the  great  ponds 
which  seem  to  be  excellent  fishing,"  both  which 
points  are  within  the  compass  of  an  ordinary 
afternoon's  ramble, — however  wild  the  coun- 
try. It  is  true  they  ^qyq  busy  at  first  about 
their  building,  and  were  hindered  in  that  by 
much  foul  weather ;  but  a  party  of  emigrants  to 
California  or  Oregon,  with  no  less  work  on  their 
hands,  —  and  more  hostile  Indians,  —  would  do 
as  much  exploring  the  first  afternoon,  and  the 
Sieur  de  Champlain  would  have  sought  an  in- 
terview with  the  savages,  and  examined  the 
country  as  far  as  the  Connecticut,  and  made  a 
map  of  it,  before  Billington  had  climbed  his 
tree.  Or  contrast  them  only  with  the  French 
searching  for  copper  about  the  Bay  of  Fundy 
in  1603,  tracing  up  small  streams  with  Indian 
guides.  Nevertheless,  the  Pilgrims  were  pio- 
neers, and  the  ancestors  of  pioneers,  in  a  far 
grander  enterprise. 

By  this  time  we  saw  the  little  steamer  Nau- 
shon  entering  the  harbor,  and  heard  the  sound 
of  her  whistle,  and  came  down  from  the  hills  to 
meet  her  at  the  wharf.  So  we  took  leave  of 
Cape  Cod  and  its  inhabitants.  We  liked  the 
manners  of  the  last,  what  little  we  saw  of  them. 


312  CAPE   COD 

very  much.  They  were  particularly  do^\Tiright 
aud  good-humored.  The  old  people  appeared 
remarkably  well  preserved,  as  if  by  the  saltness 
of  the  atmosphere,  and  after  having  once  mis- 
taken, we  could  never  be  certain  whether  we 
were  talking  to  a  coeval  of  our  grandparents,  or 
to  one  of  our  own  age.  They  are  said  to  be 
more  purel}'  the  descendants  of  the  Pilgrims 
than  the  inhabitants  of  any  other  part  of  the 
State.  We  were  told  that  "sometimes,  when 
the  court  comes  together  at  Barnstable,  they 
have  not  a  single  criminal  to  try,  and  the  jail  is 
shut  up."  It  was  "to  let"  when  we  were  there. 
Until  quite  recently  there  was  no  regular  lawyer 
below  Orleans.  Who  then  will  complain  of  a 
few  regular  man-eating  sharks  along  the  back- 
side? 

One  of  the  ministers  of  Truro,  when  I  asked 
what  the  fishermen  did  in  the  winter,  answered 
that  they  did  nothing  but  go  a-visiting,  sit 
about  and  tell  stories,  —  though  they  worked 
hard  in  summer.  Yet  it  is  not  a  long  vacation 
they  get.  I  am  sorry  that  I  have  not  been  there 
in  the  winter  to  hear  their  yarns.  Almost 
every  Cape  man  is  Captain  of  some  craft  or 
other, —  every  man  at  least  who  is  at  the  head 
of  his  own  affairs,  though  it  is  not  every  one 
that  is,  for  some  heads  have  the  force  of  Alpha 
privative,  negativing  all  the  efforts  which  Nature 


PROVINCETOWN  313 

would  fain  make  through  them.  The  greater 
number  of  men  are  merely  corporals.  It  is 
worth  the  while  to  talk  with  one  whom  his 
neighbors  address  as  Captain,  though  his  craft 
may  have  long  been  sunk,  and  he  may  be  hold- 
ing by  his  teeth  to  the  shattered  mast  of  a  pipe 
alone,  and  only  gets  half-seas-over  in  a  figura- 
tive sense,  now.  He  is  pretty  sure  to  vindicate 
his  right  to  the  title  at  last,  —  can  tell  one  or 
two  good  stories  at  least. 

For  the  most  part  we  saw  only  the  back-side 
of  the  towns,  but  our  story  is  true  as  far  as  it 
goes.  We  might  have  made  more  of  the  Bay 
side,  but  we  were  inclined  to  open  our  eyes 
widest  at  the  Atlantic.  We  did  not  care  to  see 
those  features  of  the  Cape  in  which  it  is  inferior 
or  merely  equal  to  the  mainland,  but  only  those 
in  which  it  is  peculiar  or  superior.  We  cannot 
say  how  its  towns  look  in  front  to  one  who  goes 
to  meet  them ;  we  went  to  see  the  ocean  behind 
them.  They  were  merely  the  raft  on  which  we 
stood,  and  we  took  notice  of  the  barnacles  which 
adhered  to  it,  and  some  carvings  upon  it. 

Before  we  left  the  wharf  we  made  the  acquain- 
tance of  a  passenger  whom  we  had  seen  at  the 
hotel.  When  we  asked  him  which  way  he  came 
to  Provincetown,  he  answered  that  he  was  cast 
ashore  at  Wood  End,  Saturday  night,  in  the 
same  storm  in  which  the  St.  John  was  wrecked. 


314  CAPE   COD 

He  had  been  at  work  as  a  carpenter  in  Maine, 
and  took  passage  for  Boston  in  a  schooner  laden 
with  lumber.  When  the  storm  came  on,  they 
endeavored  to  get  into  Provincetown  harbor. 
"It  was  dark  and  misty,"  said  he,  "and  as  we 
were  steering  for  Long  Point  Light  we  suddenly 
saw  the  land  near  us,  —  for  our  compass  was 
out  of  order,  —  varied  several  degrees  [a  mar- 
iner always  casts  the  blame  on  his  compass],  — 
but  there  being  a  mist  on  shore,  we  thought  it 
was  farther  off  than  it  was,  and  so  held  on,  and 
we  immediately  struck  on  the  bar.  Says  the 
Captain,  'We  are  all  lost.'  Says  I  to  the  Cap- 
tain, 'Now  don't  let  her  strike  again  this  way; 
head  her  right  on.'  The  Captain  thought  a 
moment,  and  then  headed  her  on.  The  sea 
washed  completely  over  us,  and  well-nigh  took 
the  breath  out  of  my  body.  I  held  on  to  the 
running  rigging,  but  I  have  learned  to  hold  on 
to  the  standing  rigging  the  next  time."  "Well, 
were  there  any  drowned ?"  I  asked.  "No;  we 
all  got  safe  to  a  house  at  Wood  End,  at  mid- 
night, wet  to  our  skins,  and  haK  frozen  to 
death."  He  had  apparently  spent  the  time 
since  playing  checkers  at  the  hotel,  and  was 
congratulating  himself  on  having  beaten  a  tall 
fellow-boarder  at  that  game.  "The  vessel  is  to 
be  sold  at  auction  to-day,"  he  added.  (We  had 
heard  the  sound  of  the  crier's  bell  which  adver- 


PROVINCETOWN  315 

tised  it.)  "The  Captain  is  rather  clown  about 
it,  but  I  tell  him  to  cheer  up  and  he  will  soon 
get  another  vessel." 

At  that  moment  the  Captain  called  to  him 
from  the  wharf.  He  looked  like  a  man  just 
from  the  country,  with  a  cap  made  of  a  wood- 
chuck's  skin,  and  now  that  I  had  heard  a  part 
of  his  history,  he  appeared  singularly  destitute, 
—  a  Captain  without  any  vessel,  only  a  great- 
coat! and  that  perhaps  a  borrowed  one!  Not 
even  a  dog  followed  him ;  only  his  title  stuck  to 
him.  I  also  saw  one  of  the  crew.  They  all  had 
caps  of  the  same  pattern,  and  wore  a  subdued 
look,  in  addition  to  their  naturally  aquiline 
features,  as  if  a  breaker  —  a  "comber"  —  had 
washed  over  them.  As  we  passed  Wood  End, 
we  noticed  the  pile  of  lumber  on  the  shore  which 
had  made  the  cargo  of  their  vessel. 

About  Long  Point  in  the  summer  you  com- 
monly see  them  catching  lobsters  for  the  New 
York  market,  from  small  boats  just  off  the 
shore,  or  rather,  the  lobsters  catch  themselves, 
for  they  cling  to  the  netting  on  which  the  bait 
is  placed,  of  their  own  accord,  and  thus  are 
drawn  up.  They  sell  them  fresh  for  two  cents 
apiece.  Man  needs  to  know  but  little  more 
than  a  lobster  in  order  to  catch  him  in  his  traps. 
The  mackerel  fleet  had  been  getting  to  sea,  one 
after  another,  ever  since  midnight,  and  as  we 


316  CAPE   COD 

were  leaving  the  Cape  we  passed  near  to  many 
of  them  under  sail,  and  got  a  nearer  view  than 
we  had  had ;  —  half  a  dozen  red-shirted  men  and 
boys,  leaning  over  the  rail  to  look  at  us,  the 
skipper  shouting  back  the  number  of  barrels  he 
had  caught,  in  answer  to  our  inquiry.  All  sail- 
ors pause  to  watch  a  steamer,  and  shout  in  wel- 
come or  derision.  In  one  a  large  Newfoundland 
dog  put  his  paws  on  the  rail  and  stood  up  as 
high  as  any  of  them,  and  looked  as  wise.  But 
the  skipper,  who  did  not  wish  to  be  seen  no 
better  employed  than  a  dog,  rapped  him  on  the 
nose  and  sent  him  below.  Such  is  human  jus- 
tice! I  thought  I  could  hear  him  making  an 
effective  appeal  down  there  from  human  to  di- 
vine justice.  He  must  have  had  much  the  clean- 
est breast  of  the  two. 

Still,  many  a  mile  behind  us  across  the  Bay, 
we  saw  the  white  sails  of  the  mackerel  fishers 
hovering  round  Cape  Cod,  and  when  they  were 
all  hull  down,  and  the  low  extremity  of  the 
Cape  was  also  down,  their  white  sails  still  ap- 
peared on  both  sides  of  it,  around  where  it  had 
sunk,  like  a  city  on  the  ocean,  proclaiming  the 
rare  qualities  of  Cape  Cod  Harbor.  But  before 
the  extremity  of  the  Cape  had  completely  sunk, 
it  appeared  like  a  filmy  sliver  of  land  lying  flat 
on  the  ocean,  and  later  still  a  mere  reflection  of 
a  sand-bar  on  the  haze  above.     Its  name  sug- 


PROVINCETOWN  317 

gests  a  homely  truth,  but  it  would  be  more 
poetic  if  it  described  the  impression  which  it 
makes  on  the  beholder.  Some  capes  have  pe- 
culiarly suggestive  names.  There  is  Cape 
Wrath,  the  northwest  point  o£  Scotland,  for  in- 
stance ;  what  a  good  name  for  a  cape  lying  far 
away,  dark  over  the  water,  under  a  lowering  sky ! 
Mild  as  it  was  on  shore  this  morning,  the 
wind  was  cold  and  piercing  on  the  water. 
Though  it  be  the  hottest  day  in  July  on  land, 
and  the  voyage  is  to  last  but  four  hours,  take 
your  thickest  clothes  with  you,  for  you  are 
about  to  float  over  melted  icebergs.  When  I 
left  Boston  in  the  steamboat  on  the  25th  of 
June  the  next  year,  it  was  a  quite  warm  day  on 
shore.  The  passengers  were  dressed  in  their 
thinnest  clothes,  and  at  first  sat  under  their  um- 
brellas, but  when  we  were  fairly  out  on  the  Bay, 
such  as  had  only  their  coats  were  suffering  with 
the  cold,  and  sought  the  shelter  of  the  pilot's 
house  and  the  warmth  of  the  chimney.  But 
when  we  approached  the  harbor  of  Province- 
town,  I  was  surprised  to  perceive  what  an  influ- 
ence that  low  and  narrow  strip  of  sand,  only  a 
mile  or  two  in  width,  had  over  the  temperature 
of  the  air  for  many  miles  around.  We  pene- 
trated into  a  sultry  atmosphere  where  our  thin 
coats  were  once  more  in  fashion,  and  found  the 
inhabitants  sweltering. 


318  CAPE   COD 

Leaving  far  on  one  side  Manomet  Point  in 
Plymouth  and  the  Seituate  shore,  after  being 
out  of  sight  of  hind  for  an  hour  or  two,  for  it 
was  rather  hazy,  we  neared  the  Cohasset  Rocks 
again  at  Minot's  Ledge,  and  saw  the  great 
tupelo-tree  on  the  edge  of  Scituate,  which  lifts 
its  dome,  like  an  umbelliferous  plant,  high  over 
the  surrounding  forest,  and  is  conspicuous  for 
many  miles  over  land  and  water.  Here  was  the 
new  iron  light-house,  then  unfinished,  in  the 
shape  of  an  egg-shell  painted  red,  and  placed 
high  on  iron  pillars,  like  the  ovum  of  a  sea- 
monster  floating  on  the  waves,  —  destined  to  be 
phosphorescent.  As  we  passed  it  at  half-tide 
we  saw  the  spray  tossed  up  nearly  to  the  shell. 
A  man  was  to  live  in  that  egg-shell  day  and 
night,  a  mile  from  the  shore.  When  I  passed 
it  the  next  summer  it  was  finished  and  two  men 
lived  in  it,  and  a  light-house  keeper  said  that 
they  told  him  that  in  a  recent  gale  it  had  rocked 
so  as  to  shake  the  plates  off  the  table.  Think 
of  making  your  bed  thus  in  the  crest  of  a 
breaker!  To  have  the  waves,  like  a  pack  of 
hungry  wolves,  eying  you  always,  night  and 
day,  and  from  time  to  time  making  a  spring  at 
you,  almost  sure  to  have  you  at  last.  And  not 
one  of  all  those  voyagers  can  come  to  your  re- 
lief, —  but  when  yon  light  goes  out,  it  will  be  a 
sign  that  the  light  of  your  life  has   gone   out 


PROVINCETOWN  319 

also.  What  a  place  to  compose  a  work  on 
breakers  I  This  light-house  was  the  cynosure  of 
all  eyes.  Every  passenger  watched  it  for  half 
an  hour  at  least ;  yet  a  colored  cook  belonging 
to  the  boat,  whom  I  had  seen  come  out  of  his 
quarters  several  times  to  empty  his  dishes  over 
the  side  with  a  flourish,  chancing  to  come  out 
just  as  we  were  abreast  of  this  light,  and  not 
more  than  forty  rods  from  it,  and  were  all  gaz- 
ing at  it,  as  he  drew  back  his  arm,  caught  sight 
of  it,  and  with  surprise  exclaimed,  "What's 
that? "  He  had  been  employed  on  this  boat  for 
a  year,  and  passed  this  light  every  week-day, 
but  as  he  had  never  chanced  to  emjDty  his  dishes 
just  at  that  point,  had  never  seen  it  before.  To 
look  at  lights  was  the  pilot's  business;  he 
minded  the  kitchen  fire.  It  suggested  how  little 
some  who  voyaged  round  the  world  could  man- 
age to  see.  You  would  almost  as  easil}^  believe 
that  there  are  men  who  never  yet  chanced  to 
come  out  at  the  right  time  to  see  the  sun. 
What  avails  it  though  a  light  be  placed  on  the 
top  of  a  hill,  if  you  spend  all  your  life  directly 
under  the  hill?  It  might  as  well  be  under  a 
bushel.  This  light-house,  as  is  well  known, 
was  swept  away  in  a  storm  in  April,  1851,  and 
the  two  men  in  it,  and  the  next  morning  not  a 
vestige  of  it  was  to  be  seen  from  the  shore. 
A  Hull  man  told  me  that  he  helped  set  up  a 


320  CAPE   COD 

white-oak  pole  on  Minot's  Ledge  some  years 
before.  It  was  fifteen  inches  in  diameter,  forty- 
one  feet  high,  sunk  four  feet  in  the  rock,  and 
was  secured  by  four  guys,  —  but  it  stood  only 
one  year.  Stone  piled  up  cob-fashion  near  the 
same  place  stood  eight  years. 

AVhen  I  crossed  the  Bay  in  the  Melrose  in 
July,  we  hugged  the  Scituate  shore  as  long  as 
possible,  in  order  to  take  advantage  of  the 
wind.  Far  out  on  the  Bay  (off  this  shore)  we 
scared  up  a  brood  of  young  ducks,  probably 
black  ones,  bred  hereabouts,  which  the  packet 
had  frequently  disturbed  in  her  trips.  A 
townsman,  who  was  making  the  voyage  for  the 
first  time,  walked  slowly  round  into  the  rear  of 
the  helmsman,  when  we  were  in  the  middle  of 
the  Bay,  and  looking  out  over  the  sea,  before  he 
sat  down  there,  remarked  with  as  much  original- 
ity as  was  possible  for  one  who  used  a  borrowed 
expression,  "This  is  a  great  country."  He  had 
been  a  timber  merchant,  and  I  afterward  saw 
him  taking  the  diameter  of  the  main  mast  with 
his  stick,  and  estimating  its  height.  I  returned 
from  the  same  excursion  in  the  Olata,  a  very 
handsome  and  swift-sailing  yacht,  which  left 
Provincetown  at  the  same  time  with  two  other 
packets,  the  Melrose  and  Frolic.  At  first  there 
was  scarcely  a  breath  of  air  stirring,  and  we 
loitered  about  Long  Point  for  an  hour  in  com- 


PROVINCETOWN  321 

pany,  —  with  our  heads  over  the  rail  watching 
the  great  sand-circles  and  the  fishes  at  the  bot- 
tom in  calm  water  fifteen  feet  deep.  But  after 
clearing  the  Cape  we  rigged  a  flying-jib,  and, 
as  the  Captain  had  prophesied,  soon  showed  our 
consorts  our  heels.  There  was  a  steamer  six  or 
eight  miles  northward,  near  the  Cape,  towing  a 
large  ship  toward  Boston.  Its  smoke  stretched 
perfectly  horizontal  several  miles  over  the  sea, 
and  by  a  sudden  change  in  its  direction,  warned 
us  of  a  change  in  the  wind  before  we  felt  it. 
The  steamer  appeared  very  far  from  the  ship, 
and  some  young  men  who  had  frequently  used 
the  Captain's  glass,  but  did  not  suspect  that  the 
vessels  were  connected,  expressed  surprise  that 
they  kept  about  the  same  distance  apart  for  so 
many  hours.  At  which  the  Captain  dryly  re- 
marked, that  probably  they  would  never  get 
any  nearer  together.  As  long  as  the  wind  held 
we  kept  pace  with  the  steamer,  but  at  length  it 
died  away  almost  entirely,  and  the  flying- jib  did 
all  the  work.  When  we  passed  the  light-boat 
at  Minot's  Ledge,  the  Melrose  and  Frolic  were 
just  visible  ten  miles  astern. 

Consider  the  islands  bearing  the  names  of  all 
the  saints,  bristling  with  forts  like  chestnut- 
burs,  or  echmidce,  yet  the  police  will  not  let  a 
couple  of  Irishmen  have  a  private  sparring- 
match  on  one  of  them,  as  it   is  a  government 


322  CAPE   COD 

monopoly ;  all  the  great  seaports  are  In  a  boxing 
attitude,  and  you  must  sail  prudently  between 
two  tiers  of  stony  knuckles  before  you  come  to 
feel  the  warmth  of  their  breasts. 

The  Bermudas  are  said  to  have  been  discov- 
ered by  a  Spanish  ship  of  that  name  which  was 
Vv'recked  on  them,  "which  till  then,"  says  Sir 
John  Smith,  "for  six  thousand  years  had  been 
nameless."  The  English  did  not  stumble  upon 
them  in  their  first  voyages  to  Virginia;  and 
the  first  Englishman  who  was  ever  there  was 
wrecked  on  them  in  1593.  Smith  says,  "No 
place  known  hath  better  walls  nor  a  broader 
ditch."  Yet  at  the  very  first  j)lanting  of  them 
with  some  sixty  persons,  in  1612,  the  first  Gov- 
ernor, the  same  year,  "built  and  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  eight  or  nine  forts."  To  be  ready, 
one  would  say,  to  entertain  the  first  ship's  com- 
pany that  should  be  }ie.rt  shipwrecked  on  to 
them.  It  would  have  been  more  sensible  to 
have  built  as  many  "Charity -houses."  These 
are  the  vexed  Bermoothes. 

Our  great  sails  caught  all  the  air  there  was, 
and  our  low  and  narrow  hull  caused  the  least 
possible  friction.  Coming  up  the  harbor  against 
the  stream  we  swept  by  everything.  Some 
young  men  returning  from  a  fishing  excursion 
came  to  the  side  of  their  smack,  while  we  were 
thus    steadily  drawing  by  them,  and,  bowing, 


PROVINCETOWN  323 

observed,  with  the  best  possible  grace,  "We 
give  it  up."  Yet  sometimes  we  were  nearly  at 
a  stand-still.  The  sailors  watched  (two)  objects 
on  the  shore  to  ascertain  whether  we  advanced 
or  receded.  In  the  harbor  it  was  like  the  even- 
ing of  a  holiday.  The  Eastern  steamboat  passed 
us  with  music  and  a  cheer,  as  if  they  were  going 
to  a  ball,  when  they  might  be  going  to  —  Davy's 
locker. 

I  heard  a  boy  telling  the  story  of  Nix's  mate 
to  some  girls  as  we  passed  that  spot.  That  was 
the  name  of  a  sailor  hung  there,  he  said.  —  "If 
I  am  guilty,  this  island  will  remain;  but  if  I 
am  innocent,  it  will  be  washed  away,"  and  now 
it  is  all  washed  away ! 

Next  (?)  came  the  fort  on  George's  Island. 
These  are  bungling  contrivances :  not  onvjortes, 
but  ouv  foibles.  Wolfe  sailed  by  the  strongest 
fort  in  North  America  in  the  dark,  and  took  it. 
I  admired  the  skill  with  which  the  vessel  was 
at  last  brought  to  her  place  in  the  dock,  near 
the  end  of  Long  Wharf.  It  was  candle-light, 
and  my  eyes  could  not  distinguish  the  wharves 
jutting  out  toward  us,  but  it  appeared  like  an 
even  line  of  shore  densely  crowded  with  ship- 
ping. You  could  not  have  guessed  within  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  of  Long  Wharf.  Neverthe- 
less, we  were  to  be  blown  to  a  crevice  amid 
them,  —  steering  right  into   the   maze.     Down 


324  CAPE   COD 

goes  the  maiusail,  and  only  the  jib  draws  us 
along.  Now  we  are  within  four  rods  of  the 
shipping,  having  already  dodged  several  outsid- 
ers; but  it  is  still  only  a  maze  of  spars,  and 
rigging,  and  hulls, — not  a  crack  can  be  seen. 
Down  goes  the  jib,  but  still  we  advance.  The 
Captain  stands  aft  with  one  hand  on  the  tiller, 
a,nd  the  other  holding  his  night-glass,  —  his  son 
stands  on  the  bowsprit  straining  his  eyes,  —  the 
passengers  feel  their  hearts  half-way  to  their 
mouths,  expecting  a  crash.  "Do  you  see  any 
room  there?"  asks  the  Captain  quietly.  He 
must  make  up  his  mind  in  five  seconds,  else  he 
will  carry  away  that  vessel's  bowsprit,  or  lose 
his  own.  "Yes,  sir,  here  is  a  place  for  us;" 
and  in  three  minutes  more  we  are  fast  to  the 
wharf  in  a  little  gap  between  two  bigger  vessels. 

And  now  we  were  in  Boston.  Whoever  has 
been  down  to  the  end  of  Long  Wharf,  and 
walked  through  Quincy  Market,  has  seen  Bos- 
ton. 

Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Charleston, 
New  Orleans,  and  the  rest,  are  the  names  of 
wharves  projecting  into  the  sea  (surrounded  b}^ 
the  shops  and  dwellings  of  the  merchants),  good 
places  to  take  in  and  to  discharge  a  cargo  (to 
land  the  jjroducts  of  other  climes  and  load  the 
exports  of  our  own).  I  see  a  great  many  bar- 
rels   and   fig-drums,  —  piles  of  wood    for    um- 


PR  O  VINCE  TO  WN  325 

brella-sticks,  —  blocks  of  granite  and  ice,  — 
great  heaps  of  goods,  and  the  means  of  packing 
and  conveying  them,  —  much  wrapping-paper 
and  twine,  —  many  crates  and  hogsheads  and 
trucks, — and  that  is  Boston.  The  more  bar- 
rels, the  more  Boston.  The  museums  and 
scientific  societies  and  libraries  are  accidental. 
They  gather  around  the  sands  to  save  carting. 
The  wharf-rats  and  custom-house  officers,  and 
broken-down  poets,  seeking  a  fortune  amid  the 
barrels.  Their  better  or  worse  lyceums,  and 
preachings,  and  doctorings,  these,  too,  are  acci- 
dental, and  the  malls  of  commons  are  always 
small  potatoes.  When  I  go  to  Boston,  I  natu- 
rally go  straight  through  the  city  (taking  the 
Market  in  my  way),  down  to  the  end  of  Long 
Wharf,  and  look  off,  for  I  have  no  cousins  in 
the  back  alleys,  —  and  there  I  see  a  great  many 
countrymen  in  their  shirt-sleeves  from  Maine, 
and  Pennsylvania,  and  all  along  shore  and  in 
shore,  and  some  foreigners  beside,  loading  and 
unloading  and  steering  their  teams  about,  as  at 
a  country  fair. 

When  we  reached  Boston  that  October,  I  had 
a  gill  of  Provincetown  sand  in  my  shoes,  and  at 
Concord  there  was  still  enough  left  to  sand  my 
pages  for  many  a  day ;  and  I  seemed  to  hear  the 
sea  roar,  as  if  I  lived  in  a  shell,  for  a  week 
afterward. 


326  CAPE   COD 

The  places  which  I  have  described  may  seem 
strange  and  remote  to  my  townsmen,  —  indeed, 
from  Boston  to  Provincetown  is  twice  as  far  as 
from  England  to  France ;  yet  step  into  the  cars, 
and  in  six  hours  you  may  stand  on  those  four 
planks,  and  see  the  Cape  which  Gosnold  is  said 
to  have  discovered,  and  which  I  have  so  poorly 
described.  If  you  had  started  when  I  first  ad- 
vised you,  you  might  have  seen  our  tracks  in 
the  sand,  still  fresh,  and  reaching  all  the  way 
from  the  Nauset  lights  to  Race  Point,  some 
thirty  miles,  —  for  at  every  step  we  made  an 
impression  on  the  Cape,  though  we  were  not 
aware  of  it,  and  though  our  account  may  have 
made  no  impression  on  your  minds.  But  what 
is  our  account?  In  it  there  is  no  roar,  no 
beach-birds,  no  tow-cloth. 

We  often  love  to  think  now  of  the  life  of  men 
on  beaches,  —  at  least  in  midsummer,  when  the 
weather  is  serene;  their  sunny  lives  on  the 
sand,  amid  the  beach-grass  and  the  bayberries, 
their  companion  a  cow,  their  wealth  a  jag  of 
drift-wood  or  a  few  beach-plums,  and  their 
music  the  surf  and  the  peep  of  the  beach-bird. 

We  went  to  see  the  Ocean,  and  that  is  prob- 
ably the  best  place  of  all  our  coast  to  go  to.  If 
you  go  by  water,  you  may  experience  what  it  is 
to  leave  and  to  approach  these  shores;  you  may 
see  the  Stormy  Petrel  by  the  way,  Oa\aa-(To8p6fxa, 


PROVINCETOWN  327 

running  over  the  sea,  and  if  the  weather  is  but  a 
little  thick,  may  lose  sight  of  the  land  in  mid- 
passage.  I  do  not  know  where  there  is  another 
beach  in  the  Atlantic  States,  attached  to  the 
mainland,  so  long,  and  at  the  same  time  so 
straight,  and  completely  uninterrupted  by  creeks 
or  coves  or  fresh- water  rivers  or  marshes;  for 
though  there  may  be  clear  places  on  the  map, 
they  would  probably  be  found  by  the  foot  trav- 
eler to  be  intersected  by  creeks  and  marshes; 
certainly  there  is  none  where  there  is  a  double 
way,  such  as  I  have  described,  a  beach  and  a 
bank,  which  at  the  same  time  shows  you  the 
land  and  the  sea,  and  part  of  the  time  two  seas. 
The  Great  South  Beach  of  Long  Island,  which 
I  have  since  visited,  is  longer  still  without  an 
inlet,  but  it  is  literally  a  mere  sand-bar,  ex- 
posed, several  miles  from  the  island,  and  not 
the  edge  of  a  continent  wasting  before  the  as- 
saults of  the  ocean.  Though  wild  and  desolate, 
as  it  wants  the  bold  bank,  it  possesses  but  half 
the  grandeur  of  Cape  Cod  in  my  eyes,  nor  is 
the  imagination  contented  with  its  southern 
aspect.  The  only  other  beaches  of  great  length 
on  our  Atlantic  coast,  which  I  have  heard  sail- 
ors speak  of,  are  those  of  Barnegat  on  the  Jer- 
sey shore,  and  Currituck  between  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina;  but  these,  like  the  last,  are  low 
and  narrow  sand-bars,  lying  off  the  coast,  and 


328  CAPE   COD 

separated  from  the  mainland  by  lagoons.  Be- 
sides, as  you  go  farther  south  the  tides  are  fee- 
bler, and  cease  to  add  variety  and  grandeur  to 
the  shore.  On  the  Pacific  side  of  our  country 
also  no  doubt  there  is  good  walking  to  be  found ; 
a  recent  writer  and  dweller  there  tells  us  that 
"the  coast  from  Cape  Disappointment  (or  the 
Columbia  River)  to  Cape  Flattery  (at  the  Strait 
of  Juan  de  Fuca)  is  nearly  north  and  south,  and 
can  be  traveled  almost  its  entire  length  on  a 
beautiful  sand-beach,"  with  the  exception  of 
two  bays,  four  or  five  rivers,  and  a  few  points 
jutting  into  the  sea.  The  common  shell-fish 
found  there  seem  to  be  often  of  corresponding 
types,  if  not  identical  species,  with  those  of 
Cape  Cod.  The  beach  which  I  have  described, 
however,  is  not  hard  enough  for  carriages,  but 
must  be  explored  on  foot.  When  one  carriage 
has  passed  along,  a  following  one  sinks  deeper 
still  in  its  rut.  It  has  at  present  no  name  any 
more  than  fame.  That  portion  south  of  Nauset 
Harbor  is  commonly  called  Chatham  Beach. 
The  part  in  Eastham  is  called  Nauset  Beach, 
and  off  WelLfleet  and  Truro  the  Backside,  or 
sometimes,  perhaps.  Cape  Cod  Beach.  I  think 
that  part  which  extends  without  interruption 
from  Nauset  Harbor  to  Race  Point  should  be 
called  Cape  Cod  Beach,  and  do  so  speak  of  it. 
One  of  the  most  attractive  points  for  visitors 


PR 0  VINCETO  WN  ^  329 

is  in  the  northeast  part  of  Wellfleet,  where  ac- 
commodations (I  mean  for  men  and  women  of 
tolerable  health  and  habits)  could  probably  be 
had  within  half  a  mile  of  the  seashore.  It  best 
combines  the  country  and  the  seaside.  Though 
the  Ocean  is  out  of  sight,  its  faintest  murmur 
is  audible,  and  you  have  only  to  climb  a  hill  to 
find  yourself  on  its  brink.  It  is  but  a  step 
from  the  glassy  surface  of  the  Herring  Ponds  to 
the  big  Atlantic  Pond  where  the  waves  never 
cease  to  break.  Or  perhaps  the  Highland  Light 
in  Truro  may  compete  with  this  locality,  for 
there  there  is  a  more  uninterrupted  view  of  the 
Ocean  and  the  Bay,  and  in  the  summer  there  is 
always  some  air  stirring  on  the  edge  of  the  bank 
there,  so  that  the  inhabitants  know  not  what 
hot  weather  is.  As  for  the  view,  the  keeper  of 
the  light,  with  one  or  more  of  his  family,  walks 
out  to  the  edge  of  the  bank  after  every  meal  to 
look  off,  just  as  if  they  had  not  lived  there  all 
their  days.  In  short,  it  will  wear  well.  And 
what  picture  will  you  substitute  for  that,  upon 
your  walls?  But  ladies  cannot  get  down  the 
bank  there  at  present  without  the  aid  of  a  block 
and  tackle. 

Most  persons  visit  the  seaside  in  warm 
weather,  when  fogs  are  frequent,  and  the  atmo- 
sphere is  wont  to  be  thick,  and  the  charm  of  the 
sea  is  to  some  extent  lost.     But  I  suspect  that 


330  CAPE   COD 

the  fall  is  the  best  season,  for  then  the  atmo- 
sphere is  more  transparent,  and  it  is  a  greater 
pleasure  to  look  out  over  the  sea.  The  clear 
and  bracing  air,  and  the  storms  of  autumn  and 
winter  even,  are  necessary  in  order  that  we 
may  get  the  impression  which  the  sea  is  calcu- 
lated to  make.  In  October,  when  the  weather 
is  not  intolerably  cold,  and  the  landscape  wears 
its  autumnal  tints,  such  as,  methinks,  only  a 
Cape  Cod  landscape  ever  wears,  especially  if 
you  have  a  storm  during  your  stay,  —  that  I  am 
convinced  is  the  best  time  to  visit  this  shore. 
In  autumn,  even  in  August,  the  thoughtful  days 
begin,  and  we  can  walk  anywhere  with  profit. 
Beside,  an  outward  cold  and  dreariness,  which 
make  it  necessary  to  seek  shelter  at  night,  lend 
a  spirit  of  adventure  to  a  walk. 

The  time  must  come  when  this  coast  will  be  a 
place  of  resort  for  those  New-Englanders  who 
really  wish  to  visit  the  seaside.  At  present  it 
is  wholly  unknown  to  the  fashionable  world,  and 
probably  it  will  never  be  agreeable  to  them.  If 
it  is  merely  a  ten-pin  alley,  or  a  circular  rail- 
way, or  an  ocean  of  mint-julep,  that  the  visitor 
is  in  search  of,  —  if  he  thinks  more  of  the  wine 
than  the  brine,  as  I  suspect  some  do  at  New- 
port, —  I  trust  that  for  a  long  time  he  will  be 
disappointed  here.  But  this  shore  will  never 
be  more  attractive  than  it  is  now.     Such  beaches 


PROVINCETOWN  331 

as  are  fashionable  are  here  made  and  unmade  in 
a  day,  I  may  almost  say,  by  the  sea  shifting  its 
sands.  Lynn  and  Nantasket!  this  bare  and 
bended  arm  it  is  that  makes  the  bay  in  which 
they  lie  so  snugly.  What  are  springs  and  wa- 
terfalls? Here  is  the  spring  of  springs,  the 
waterfall  of  waterfalls.  A  storm  in  the  fall  or 
winter  is  the  time  to  visit  it;  a  light-house  or  a 
fisherman's  hut  the  true  hotel.  A  man  may 
stand  there  and  put  all  America  behind  him. 


INDEX 


Across  the  Cape,  153-178. 

Atphouse,  Jean,  "  Routier,"  quoted, 
288. 

Anchors,  dragging  for,  194. 

Apple-trees,  Cape  Cod,  36-38. 

Archer,  Gabriel,  quoted,  295. 

Architecture,  American,  32. 

Autumn  landscape  near  Province- 
town,  232-234. 

Axy,  a  Bible  name,  112. 

Bank  swallow,  the,  196. 

Barber's  Historical  Collections, 
quoted,  267. 

Barnstable  (Mass.),  24. 

Bascom,  the  Rev.  Jonathan,  C3. 

Bayberry,  the,  120-122. 

Beach,  The,  C5-91. 

Beach  Again,  The,  120-152. 

Beaches,  Cape  Cod  the  best  of  At- 
lantic, 326-328. 

Beach-grass,  241,  242,  246-251. 

Beach-pea,  the,  105,  248,  249. 

Bellamy,  the  pirate  wrecked  off 
Wellfleet,  192. 

Beverly,  Robert,  "  History  of  Vir- 
ginia," quoted,  16,  120,  121. 

Billingsgate,  part  of  Wellfleet  called, 
96. 

Billingsgate  Island,  105. 

Birds  on  Cape  Cod,  134,  135,  156, 
196. 

Blackfish  driven  ashore  in  storm, 
170-176. 

Borde,  Sieur  de  la,  Relatiot  des 
Cdraibes,  quoted,  186. 

Boston,  a  big  wharf,  325. 

Boys,  Provincetown,  262. 

Breakers,  66,  252. 

Brereton,  John,  quoted,  296. 

Brewster  (Mass.),  24,  31,  32. 

Bridgfiwater  (Mass.),  20. 

Brook  Island  in  Cohasset,  4. 

Browne,  Sir  Thomas,  quoted,  188. 

Buckland,  Curiosities  of  Natural 
History,  98. 


Cabot,  the  discoveries  of,  281. 

Cambria,  the  steamer,  aground,  110. 

Camp-meetings,  Eastham,  53-55, 
versus  Ocean,  77. 

Cape  Cod,  T.'s  various  visits  to,  1 ; 
derivation  of  name  of,  2  ;  forma- 
tion of,  2,  3,  21 ;  barrenness  of, 
40-42 ;  the  real,  74  ;  houses,  93 ; 
landscape,  a,  157-163 ;  men,  the 
Norse  quality  of,  166,  167  ;  west- 
ern shore  of,  169 ;  changes  in  the 
coast-line  of,  180-185  ;  clothes- 
yard,  a,  265  ;  and  its  harbors,  va- 
rious names  for,  273,  276 ;  Gos- 
nold's  discovery  of,  292-299  ; 
people,  311,  312. 

"  Cape  Cod  Railroad,"  the,  20. 

Champlain,  "  Voyages,"  quoted,  99 ; 
records  and  maps  of,  274-282. 

Charity,  cold,  90. 

Chatham  (Mass.),  described,  29. 

Cigar-smoke,  the  gods  not  to  be 
appeased  with,  47. 

Cities  as  wharves,  324. 

Clams,  Cape  Cod,  39,  40  ;  large,  84  ; 
or  quahogs,  catching  birds,  100, 
101  ;  stones  shaped  like,  129. 

Clay  Pounds,  the,  157 ;  why  so 
called,  189  ;  the  Somerset  wrecked 
on,  193. 

Cohasset  (Mass.),  the  wreck  at,  3- 
14  ;  Rocks,  sea-bathing  at,  17,  18. 

Corn,  great  crops  of,  42-45. 

Cows  fed  on  fishes'  heads,  258. 

Crautz,  account  of  Greenland, 
quoted,  69,  178. 

Darwin,  Charles,  quoted,  144,  145. 
Dead   body  on  the   shore,   a,   126, 

127. 
De  Monts,  Champlain  and,  275. 
Dennis  (Mass.),  24  ;  described,  27- 

29. 
Doane,    Heman,     verses     by,      on 

Thomas  Prince's  pear-tree,  50, 51. 
Doane,  John,  51. 


334 


INDEX 


Dogs  on  the  seashore,  222-224. 
DrStwood,    Cape   Cod  and   Green- 
laud,  68-70. 
Dwight,  Timotliy,  quoted,  255, 272. 

East  Harbor  Village,  in  Truro,  163. 

Eastham  (Mass.),  the  history  of,  48- 
()4 ;  ministers  of,  51-64 ;  Table 
Lands  of,  71 ;  the  Pilgrims,  310. 

Fences  in  Truro,  164,  165. 
"  Fish,    A    Religious,"    newspaper 
clipping,   138 ;   uses  of,  in  Prov- 
iucetown,  255-259. 
Fish  stories,  ancient,  259,  260. 
Fishes  driven  ashore  by  storm,  170- 

176. 
Fishing    for  bass,   139 ;    mackerel, 

215-221,  227-229. 
Fox,  starting  up  a,  177. 
Franklin,   wreck   of    the   ship,   84, 
109;    wreckage     from    the,    135, 
136. 
French,  coin    found   on    beach    at 
Wellfleet,  193 ;  explorers  in  and 
about  New  England,  274-292. 
Fruit-trees,    paucity    of,  in    Cape 

towns,  38. 
"  Furdustrandas,"  225,  230. 

Galway,  Ireland,  the  wrecked  brig 

from,  5. 
Gazetteer,  the,  28,  31. 
Gerard,     the     English     herbalist, 

quoted,  248. 
Gilbert,  Sir  Humphrey,  146. 
Gilpin,  William,  quoted,  141. 
GoBnold,  Captain  Bartholomew,  2  ; 

discovery  of  Cape  Cod  by,  292- 

299. 
Grampus  Rock,  in  Cohasset,  7,  9. 
Graveyard,  a  Cape  Cod,  176. 
Greenland,  driftwood  in,  69. 
Gulls,  methods  of  catching,  83. 

Herring  River,  93. 

Highland  Light,  The,  179-210. 

Highland  Light,  157,  179  ;  descrip- 
tion and  stories  of,  201-210. 

Hog  Island,  Inside  of  Hull,  15. 

HuU  (Mass.),  15. 

Humane  Society,  huts  of  the,  73, 
85-91. 

Humboldt,  Alex,  von,  quoted,  143. 

Huts  for  shipwrecked  sailors,  73, 
85-91. 

Indian  habitation,  signs  of  previous, 

99. 
Italian  discoverers,  283. 


Jeremiah's  Gutter,  40. 
Jerusalem  Village  (Mass.),  17. 
Jesuits,    early,    in    New    England, 

280. 
Josselyn,  John,  quoted,  115. 

Kalm,   Travels  in   North  America, 

quoted,  150,  241. 
Kelp,  77-80. 

Legs,  the,  as  compasses,  103. 
Lescarbot,  quoted,  290,  301. 
Long  Wharf,  taking  a  place  at,  323. 

Mackerel,  fishing  for,  215-221,  227- 

229  ;  fleet,  the,  238,  315,  316. 
Maps  of  Cape  Cod  and  New  England, 

274-278,  282,  283. 
Massachusetts  Bay,  shallovpness  of, 

147. 
Massachusetts    Historical    Society, 

Collections  of  the,  22. 
Menhaden,  schools  of,  142. 
Ministers,  salaries  of  country,  52 ; 

some  old  Cape  Cod,  55-64. 
Minot's  Ledge,  the  light  on,  318, 

319. 
Mirages  in  sand  and  sea,  229-231. 
Moisture  in  Cape  Cod  air,  198. 
Mount  Ararat  in  Provincetown,  229. 
Mourt's  Relation,  quoted,  42,  111, 

303. 

Nantasket  (Mass.),  17. 

Nauset  Harbor,  in  Orleans,  34,  74. 

Nauset  Lights,  46. 

Nix's  mate,  story  of,  323. 

Northeaster,  a,  245,  252-254. 

Norumbega,  289. 

Ocean,  calm,  rough,  and  fruitful, 
148-152  ;  beaches  across  the,  213, 
214. 

October,  the  best  season  for  visiting 
the  Cape,  330. 

Olata,  the  swift-sailing  yacht,  320. 

Organ-grinders  on  the  Cape,  33. 

Orleans  (Mass.),  24;  Higgins's  tav- 
ern at,  33. 

Osbom,  the  Rev.  Samuel,  61,  62. 

Pamet  River,  156. 

Pear-tree,  the,  planted  by  Thomas 

Prince,  50. 
Penhallow,  Samuel,  History,  quoted, 

284. 
Petrel,  the  storm,  135. 
Pilgrims,  arrival  of  the,  303-311. 
Pitch-pine,  tracts  of,  24. 
Plains  of  Nausbt,  The,  34-64. 


INDEX 


335 


Plants,  on  Cape  Cod  beach,  131 ; 
about  Highland  Light,  160,  200 ; 
about  the  Clay  Pounds,  197. 

Pleaaant  Cove,  in  Cohasaet,  19. 

Plover,  the  piping  of,  82. 

Point  AUerton,  15. 

Pohiphloisboios  Thalassa,  the  Rev., 
77. 

Pond  Village,  169. 

Ponds  in  Wellfleet,  105. 

Post-office,  the  domestic,  27. 

Postel,  Charle  Geographique, 
quoted,  301. 

Poverty-grass,  25 ;  as  the  Barnsta- 
ble  coat-of-arms,  160,  161. 

Prince,  Thomas,  49. 

Prinp,  Martin,  New  England  dis- 
coveries of,  275,  276,  298,  299. 

Provincetown,  255-331. 

Provincetown  (Mass.),  walking  to, 
34,  66  ;  Bank,  suspected  of  rob- 
bing, 212  ;  approach  to,  232  ;  de- 
scribed, 234-237  ;  fish,  256-259 ; 
boys,  262  ;  Harbor,  272. 

Purple  Sea,  the,  141. 

Race  Point,  74,  232,  240. 
"  Rut,"  the,  a  sound  before  a  change 
of  wind,  114,  115. 

St.  George's  Bank,  146,  147. 

St.  John,  the  wrecked  t)rig,  5. 

Salt,  as  manufactured  by  Capt.  John 
Sears,  30,  31 ;  works,  263,  264. 

Sand,  blowing,  245  ;  inroads  of  the, 
250,  251 ;  Provincetown,  265-268. 

Sandwich  (Mass.),  20 ;  described, 
22-24. 

Schooner,  origin  of  word,  239. 

Sea  and  the  Desert,  The,  211- 
254. 

Sea,  the  roar  of  the,  45,  76 ;  re- 
moteness of  the  bottom  of  the, 
146. 

Sea-bathing,  17,  18. 

Sea  fleas,  134. 

Sears,  Capt.  John,  and  salt  manu- 
facture, 30,  31. 

Shank-Painter  Swamp,  240,  262. 

Sharks,  132-134. 

Shell-fish  on  Cape  Cod  beach,  130, 
131. 

Shipwreck,  The,  1-19. 

Signals,  old  clothes  as,  24. 

Simpkins,  the  Rev.  John,  quoted, 
33. 

Smith,  Capt.  John,  quoted,  216, 
309;  map  of  New  England  by, 
276. 

Smoothness  of  ocean,  148. 


Snow's  Hollow,  70. 

Somerset,    British    ship    of     war, 

wrecked  on  Clay  Pounds,  193. 
Spanish  discoverers,  283. 
Staoe-Coach  Views,  20-33. 
Stone,  the  Rev.  Nathan,  64. 
Stones,  rarity  of,  on  Cape  Cod,  269- 

271. 
Suet,  in  Dennis  (Mass.),  30. 
Sunday  in  Provincetown,  305. 
Sun-squall,  sea-jellies  called,  81. 

Table  Lands  of  Eastham,  71. 

Thor-finn  andThor-eau,  230  ;  voyage 
of,  299. 

Thoreau,  Henry  David,  various  vis- 
its to  Cape  Cod,  1 ;  starts  for  Cape 
Cod,  Oct.  9,  1849,  3 ;  goes  on  a 
mackerel  cruise,  219  ;  takes  leave 
of  Cape  Cod,  311. 

Thorhall,  the  disappointment  of, 
225. 

Thorn-apple,  the,  15,  16. 

Thorwald,  voyage  of,  299,  300. 

Travelers,  good  humor  of,  25. 

Treat,  the  Rev.  Samuel,  55-60. 

Trees  on  Cape  Cod,  153-156  ;  disap- 
pearance of,  308. 

Truro  (Mass.),  123,  163-165;  the 
wreck  of,  190. 

Turtles,  land  and  sea,  243. 

"  Uncle  Bill,"  somebody's  (or  every- 
body's), 168. 

Vegetables  in  the  oysterman's  gar- 
den, 118. 

Vessels  seen  from  Cape  Cod,  123- 
125, 140,  143-146. 

Water,  Cape  Cod,  271. 

Waves  on  the  shore,  186-189. 

Webb,  the  Rev.  Benjamin,  62,  63. 

Webb's  Island,  the  lost,  182. 

Webster,  Daniel,  quoted,  148. 

Wellfleet  Oysterman,  The,  92- 
119. 

Wellfleet  (Mass.),  oysters,  96;  Bel- 
lamy wrecked  off,  192 ;  a  good 
headquarters  for  visitors  to  the 
Cape,  329. 

"  When  descends  on  the  Atlantic," 
Longfellow,  quoted,  80. 

Whitehead,  near  Cohasset,  10. 

Wind-mills,  Cape  Cod,  38,  39. 

Windows  in  Cape  Cod  houses,  93. 

Winthrop,  Gov.,  quoted,  285. 

Women,  pinched-up,  26. 

Wood,  William,  quoted,  100. 

Wood  End,  wreck  at,  313-315. 


336 


INDEX 


Wreck  of  the  Franklin,  84  ;  of  Bel- 
lamy the  pirate,  192  ;  of  the  Brit- 
ish ship  of  war  Somerset,  193 ; 
story  of  a  man  from  a,  313-315. 

Wreck^e,  137-139. 


Wrecker,  a  Cape  Cod,  67,  68. 
Wrecks,    Truro,    190  ;     the 
qiiences  of,  195,  196. 

Yarmouth  (Mass.),  24. 


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